Be My Escape
by Salemsoriginal99
Summary: As the war against Voldemort slowly begins to spiral out of control, those who are against the Dark Lord must find a reason to live and die for their cause, unless they wish to see the wizarding world fall...
1. A Curious Proposal

_The beauty of the world has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder._ **-Virginia Woolf**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Just the original characters and plot of this particular story.**

* * *

"Hermione! Hermione, come down for breakfast!"

Hermione Granger sighed and set down her book, marking the page, before she did.

"Coming mum!"

It was nearly three weeks since Hermione had gotten off the Hogwarts express after rather dangerous sixth year, and now she was starting to grow antsy. She had written to both Harry and Ron with no response and with the growing dangers of Voldemort's approach, she was having trouble smothering the fears that were entering her mind as the days past.

She had tried to get her mind off of it be reading, but after six books, she found that she had actually read most of them before, which made it harder for her to keep her mind off of her friends and Hogwarts.

"Watch it, Hermione," Mr. Granger warned, grabbing his daughter before she walked right into the stove. "Are you okay?"

Hermione blinked and then blushed.

"Sorry, Dad. I was just thinking," she told him, sitting down beside her mother, who was watching Hermione with a smile.

"About Ron?"

Hermione's face grew redder and she shook her head quickly.

"No, not Ron… just about Hogwarts," she said, grabbing a piece of toast.

"Sure," Mr. Granger said knowingly.

"Dad!"

Her father just shrugged, a broad smile on his face as he placed eggs on the table and sat down across from his wife.

"Well, according to what you told us earlier, you two got quiet close this past year. I just assumed that you were thinking about it," he said casually.

Hermione shook her head, not interested in discussing her rather unusual and somewhat volatile relationship with the redhead with her parents.

"No, Dad, I was not thinking about that…" she muttered, trying to force images of the handsome redhead out of her mind. "I'm just worried. They haven't responded to my letters and with things getting as bad as they are, I just hope that they're okay."

Mrs. Granger placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Wouldn't someone tell you if something had happened? Like Dumbledore?"

Hermione shrugged.

"I don't know anymore. With everything getting worse around England, it's hard to imagine that Dumbledore would have time to tell me anything."

Mr. Granger offered his daughter a comforting smile.

"I'm sure everything is fine. Things are probably busy over at Ron's house anyway. What with seven children, I would assume that he hardly has the time to write," he said.

Hermione nodded.

"You're probably right, Dad," she said, trying to focus on the positive rather than the disastrous alternative. She fell into a quiet silence that concerned her parents.

Though Hermione didn't believe many of the things that were being written in the Daily Prophet about the attacks, she did know that certain political aspects such as the conversations between the Minister of Magic and the Prime Minister were growing heated as things grew dangerous in London.

The severity of the attacks was what made it harder for Hermione to sit still. She had seen Ron's father's name all over the paper as well as Remus Lupin's. There wasn't much said about Harry Potter, not because the Prophet wasn't interested, but because he was impossible to get a hold of. The Prophet had even gone as far as to start a little column at the bottom of the first page that was titled, Where in the World is Harry Potter?, in which editors and readers alike posted views on where they believed Harry was and what they believed he was doing, whether it was searching for imaginary elixirs or going on a suicide search for Voldemort, who was _always_ mentioned in the paper. The column even had a small part dedicated to those who claimed to have seen the elusive Boy Who Lived roaming through their back yards and in their basements. Of course, after these statements would be the psychologist's column.

Hermione, however, read that column the most, hoping to find some clue from some idiot who might have actually seen the raven head.

"Hermione? Isn't that your friend's owl? Hedwig or something?"

Hermione turned to see her mother pointing to the kitchen window where a small owl was flitting around, tapping on the glass and carrying an envelope. Hermione nearly jumped out of her skin with excitement.

"Not Hedwig, mum. Pig, Ron's owl," she said, getting up and opening the window. The bird immediately began zooming around the kitchen excitedly. Hermione pulled out her wand and flicked it at the bird.

"_Accio Pig_," she snapped and the bird flew into her hands. She put her wand away before taking away the letter from the tiny owl, who chirped at her in greeting. She offered the bird a piece of her toast and set him down on a small plant in the kitchen where he ate in glee. Hermione sat back down and looked down at the letter.

"What does Ron have to say?" her father asked with a smile.

Hermione frowned, shaking her head.

"It's not from Ron, Dad," she whispered, opening it and looking at the letter. "It's from Professor McGonagall, my Transfiguration teacher."

"Why would she have Ron's owl?" Mrs. Granger mused, watching her daughter as she read the letter silently. "Honey, what is it?"

Hermione caught her parents' concerned gazes and offered them a smile.

"I've been made Head Girl," she told them holding up the badge that came in the envelope. Mr. Granger frowned.

"You don't look so happy," he pointed out.

Hermione bit her lip. There was so many questions running through her mind that it was making her dizzy with confusion and even a twinge of fear.

"No, I am happy… it's just… why would McGonagall have Ron's owl?" she posed before suddenly standing up, grabbing Pig quickly and leaving the kitchen. Mr. and Mrs. Granger glanced over at each other, concerned for their daughter.

* * *

Hermione sat down at her desk and pulled out a few sheets of paper, a quill and small jar of ink. Pig perched on her bedpost, watching as her cat, Crookshanks, slinked around the bottom of the bed, watching the small owl with interest.

Something was wrong.

Why would McGonagall have Pig?

Unless they were at Sirius's old place, currently Harry's place.

But why would they be there?

Hermione bit her lip and started to write her letter, mostly questioning what was going on and why no one had answered her ten previous letters.

When she finished, she grabbed Pig off the post and put the letter in his mouth. She then shoved him out the window and watched him disappear over the trees in her backyard. Sighing, she sat back down and picked up Crookshanks, who purred against her.

"What's going on, Crookshanks?"

* * *

Hermione came in from the backyard a week after she had gotten McGonagall's letter and went straight to the kitchen, where her mother was cleaning the dishes.

"Any letters?" Hermione asked for the seventh time that day.

Mrs. Granger frowned and shook her head sadly.

"I'm sorry, dear. No owls," she replied, watching as the same disappointed look fell upon her daughter's face that had taken over it for the past week. "Maybe you should write another letter?"

Hermione shook her head.

"I've written two letters already, Mum. It shouldn't take this long for them to respond," she said heatedly. "What if something's happened and no one's told me?"

Mrs. Granger set down the plate she was washing and turned to face her daughter.

"You get the paper don't you?"

"Yes."

"Then wouldn't it be in the paper?"

Hermione shook her head.

"I've searched the paper for anything, but there's nothing there. Just threats from Voldemort and the Minister's ravings about better protection for Muggleborns and such. Nothing else," Hermione responded.

"Well, you should just hope that they're all just extremely busy," Mrs. Granger suggested, turning back to the dishes. "I'm sorry we don't have anything to keep you busy, dear."

Hermione shook her head and walked over to the sink where her mother was and took some of the plates and began to pack them manually. She remembered helping her mother with the dishes before she realized she was a witch. She'd have so much fun playing with the bubbles and drying the bowls. Now, she was just doing it to pass time.

"It's okay mum… I want to be home anyway, in case…"

"In case there's an attack?" her mother finished.

Hermione nodded silently, not wanting to talk about the possibility of an actual attack on her family. Though nothing of such seriousness had happened to her parents last year, Hermione had received threats several times about her family being in danger, though none of them were actually carried out. Ron on the other hand, had disappeared for a while last year. Those had been the worst five weeks of Hermione's life. She didn't want to go through that again with her parents. Not while she was receiving no answers from Ron or Harry.

Now, she asked her parents to tell her where they were at every time of the day, which annoyed her mother sometimes. But both her parents finally realized that their daughter's paranoia was warranted when an unmarked box turned out to be holding a rigged explosive charm. Hermione managed to get rid of it, but when she had written to Moody about it, no one had replied. Well, no one had written back. After that, she noticed that all of their mail had a strange seal she had seen only when she had been at the Ministry of Magic. Someone was checking their mail for them.

"Hermione, can I ask you something?"

"Sure mum."

"Do you like Ron?"

"Mum!"

Her mother shrugged.

"It's a perfectly legitimate question, Hermione and I was just curious," she said.

Hermione frowned and returned to drying the dishes. Thinking about Ron was not something she enjoyed doing a lot only because her feelings towards him were very hazy. She knew she cared about him, but she also knew that, with the war upon them, she did not want to be distracted by the pains of love.

"I don't know," she answered.

"What does that mean?"

Hermione sighed.

"I don't know what it means…. It's complicated."

"What does 'it complicated' mean?"

"It means it's complicated, mum. Ron and I are best friends, Harry's under a lot of pressure and the entire wizarding world is about to be thrown into chaos. We're all in too much danger for anything to happen."

Mrs. Granger frowned.

"But don't you want to know that he likes you in case something does happen?"

Hermione shook her head.

"I don't want to get hurt mum. Both Ron and I need to focus on helping Harry with defeating Voldemort and if something happened during that… I don't know how I'd be able to handle it."

"So it's better if you two remain friends?"

Hermione nodded.

"I'd rather lose him as a friend then lose him as a…" she drifted off, unsure of what to say next.

"Lose him as a lover?" Mrs. Granger offered, causing Hermione to blush.

"That's a bit extreme, mum," she said.

Mrs. Granger gave her daughter a funny look.

"I don't know, Hermione. Is it?"

Hermione looked up to see her mother watching her carefully and she sighed.

"I don't know anymore, mum."

* * *

"Hermione! Come into the living room, there's someone here to see you," she heard her father call.

Her heart jumped for a moment when she thought it could possibly be Ron or Harry, but when she entered the living room, her previous fears were rekindled at the sight of a tall man in Ministry robes. There was a briefcase by his feet. She had never seen him before. Mr. Granger glanced between the man and Hermione, whose hand was now in her pocket, fingering her wand.

"Honey, this man says he's from the Ministry of Magic. He says he needs to speak to you," he explained while watching his daughter.

Hermione nodded.

"Hello," she greeted coolly and the man nodded.

"Hello Hermione Granger. My name is William Devonshire and I was sent to do a security check on your house."

"You're an Auror?"

The man nodded, taking out his badge and showing it to her. Hermione frowned.

"A security check?"

Devonshire waved his hand around the room.

"The Ministry is ordering a security check of every Muggleborn house to make sure that it isn't being infiltrated by Death Eaters," he explained. "We've had a few attacks on muggles that way."

Hermione's eyes widened.

"Oh… Well then, what ever you need me for, I'll be happy to help."

Devonshire nodded and turned to her father.

"Sir, I'm going to need you to take your wife outside until we are done. The security check doesn't work well with muggles."

Mr. Granger turned to his daughter.

"Hermione?"

Hermione walked over to him and lead him into the kitchen where her mother was.

"He's right, Dad. You two need to go outside for a while, at least until this is all over. It'll only take a few minutes," she said. Her father nodded and after a couple of minutes of explanation to her mother, the two stepped outside. Hermione then returned to the living room where the Auror was glancing out the window.

"Mr. Devonshire?"

He turned to see her.

"Are your parents outside?" he asked.

She nodded and he took out his wand.

"Okay, well then. Just follow my lead and this should be over in about fifteen minutes."

* * *

When they were done with the check, Devonshire pulled out a form from his briefcase and then pulled out a quill. He wrote a few things down while Hermione went to get her parents from outside. When she came back in, he was once again looking out the window, only this time he was tapping his wand against the glass.

"What are you doing?" Mrs. Granger asked a little rudely, not wanting her window to be ruined in anyway. Devonshire quickly put away his wand and turned away from the window, causing Hermione to become slightly curious. But she didn't say anything. Devonshire handed her the signed forms.

"Here you go, Ms. Granger. I need you to sign these as the magical inhabitant of the household," he said professionally. He handed her the quill and after reading over the forms, Hermione quickly signed the designated areas. Devonshire then handed the quill to her parents. "I need you to sign here as witnesses and then here stating that you did indeed go outside for the security check," he told them.

Mrs. Granger signed first while Mr. Granger frowned.

"Why so much formalities for a security check?" he asked apprehensively. Devonshire shook his head.

"These are dangerous times, Mr. Granger," he said, watching the man sign the forms. "We have to be absolutely sure that each check was done by the book and that every person in the house was accounted for at the time of the check. The Ministry wants to make sure things are done without mistakes because if there are then people could die and we can't afford to let that happen."

"Is it really that bad out there?" Hermione asked as the Auror placed the forms carefully back into his briefcase, casting a charm over the case before he turned to her.

"Not as bad as the Prophet is making it, but I have a feeling that by the time that the summer is over, the Prophet will look like child's story compared to what's actually happening," he replied grimly. Hermione bit her lip, contemplating asking the man about what was on her mind. She decided that it wouldn't hurt to ask.

"Have you heard anything about what's going over at the Weasley residence?" she asked quickly. The man paled, not enough to attract attention from Hermione's parents, but just enough for Hermione to notice. There was fleeting pained look on his face as well, that told her that something was off.

"Arthur Weasley?"

Hermione nodded and he suddenly shrugged, everything going back to normal.

"I'm sorry, but I haven't seen Arthur lately. He's been quite busy with tons of raids," he told her quickly.

"What about his family."

There it was again. That temporary pain before it was quickly discarded. It was as if he knew something that he wasn't willing to say… or he couldn't say.

"I really don't know," he said rather slowly, as if judging every word he said to make sure he didn't give away too much.

"You don't know _anything_?" Hermione pressed rather intensely, almost desperate for information.

"There hasn't been much information coming out of that household since Harry Potter arrived," he said. He instantly looked like he regretted his statement.

Hermione's eyes widened.

"Harry's with the Weasley's?"

Devonshire picked up his briefcase, looking extremely upset with himself.

"I've already said too much," he mumbled, more to himself than to her. Mr. Granger looked worried.

"I'm Harry's friend. Hermione Granger," she said. The man frowned, as if he already knew, but still shouldn't have told her anything.

"Look, I have more houses to get to today, so I have to go," he said, suddenly impatient with her, offering his hand. "Good luck with the rest of the summer."

Hermione looked upset.

"Wait, what's going on with the Weasleys?" she asked.

Devonshire shook his head and pulled out his wand.

"I'm sorry, but I've already said too much. I'm sure the Weasley's are fine," he said before disapparating. Hermione was speechless.

_What was going on?_

**A/N: Enjoy! R/R!**


	2. Getting Out of Focus

_In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends_ -**Martin Luther King, jr**.

* * *

The comments of the Auror haunted Hermione for days as she continued to send occasional letters to Ron and Harry.

If Harry was indeed at the Weasley's house and if the Weasley's were fine then why weren't they replying to her letters? And why couldn't Devonshire tell her anything?

This whole thing was working on her nerves, which, by this time, were very close to breaking as time wore on. She needed to know if they were okay. She needed to know what was happening.

Crookshanks' purring brought Hermione out of her depressing thoughts as the large cat rubbed up against her side before sliding rather ungainly into her lap, purring loudly. Hermione sighed and scratched the cat behind his ears.

"Well, Crookshanks, it looks like we're going to be left in the dark this summer," she whispered. The cat looked up at her and Hermione smiled.

"Yes, well, I could go to Victor's wedding, but it's at the end of the summer… I probably should tell Ron that Victor's actually is getting married since its being kept out of the news," she whispered. Crookshanks seemed to shake his head and Hermione frowned. "Why shouldn't I tell him? He should know before he starts making all these wild accusations at me again…. But then again… maybe I should keep it to myself until he does blow up… then I can just tell him and see how he gets all red and tries to find excuses to hate Victor…"

Hermione smiled at the image of seeing Ron bumbling over himself trying to explain to her why _Vicky_ was still a prick and why she shouldn't write him anymore.

Suddenly Hermione found herself missing Ron very much, which made her feel even worse.

She wasn't supposed to be thinking about Ron. Times were dangerous and she should be focused on keeping her parents safe in case of an attack instead of sitting up in her room daydreaming about having arguments with Ron.

She sighed again.

That's what it had come to.

Hermione Granger was fantasizing about bickering with Ronald Weasley.

She looked down at Crookshanks.

"Have I sunk that low?"

The cat nodded and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Oh you're no help at all."

* * *

Mrs. Granger looked up from her book to see Hermione come down the stairs with her cat trailing behind, purring loudly.

"It seems that Crookshanks is hungry, dear," she said. Hermione looked up and shook her head.

"No, he's just being silly," she said picking up the cat and walking into her father's study and sitting down into one of the chairs. "He's always purring like this. How are you dad?"

Her mother smiled.

"I'm feeling great. I'm reading this interesting novel, actually. It's called Pride and Prejudice," she told her. Hermione smiled.

"I've read that story so many times," she said. "It's about those five sisters and two of them fall in love with-"

"Hermione, I know you've read your father's entire collection of books, but I've barely made it past the thirty-first page, so if you don't mind," her mother said with a smile. Hermione blushed and bit her lip.

"I'm sorry, mum," she whispered.

"It's okay."

Hermione sighed and looked down at the cat in her arms. Mrs. Granger watched her daughter for a while before speaking.

"Don't you want to go down town or something? Get out of the house?"

Hermione shook her head.

"No… I'll stay inside today."

Mrs. Granger frowned.

"Hermione, you can't stay in here forever, waiting for an attack. You need to go out and do something. Why don't you give some of your old friends a ring?"

Hermione sighed.

"I haven't talked to some of them in a while, mum."

"Then now's the perfect time to catch up. I know you've been helpful, but to be honest, I'm getting a bit tired seeing you just walk around the house waiting for an owl. You need to distract yourself, Hermione."

"But mum-"

"Karen! Karen, could you come here for a moment, there's something I need to talk to you about," Hermione heard her father call. Mrs. Granger gave her daughter an apologetic glance before she got up and left the study. Hermione sighed and looked around the room, searching for something to do. Finally her eyes rested on the book her mother had been reading and she leaned forward to pick it up. Her eyes scanned over the familiar words and she sighed again.

"Oh Ms. Elizabeth Bennett… Mr. Darcy is _exactly_ the man you are looking for… I just wish I could find _exactly_ the man I was looking for…"

* * *

"What is it, dear?" Karen Granger asked, entering the kitchen. Her husband, John, was standing by the sink, staring out the back window with a frown on his face. He glanced over at her before looking out the window again.

"I'm worried about Hermione," he whispered, knowing that his daughter was more than capable of listening in on their conversations. Karen frowned, knowing what he was talking about.

"She's worried about her friends. They haven't contacted her since the school year ended and with all this danger she's talking about with that Ministry and… _our_ world, she's scared, John," she whispered. John sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"I know… but I don't think it's healthy for her to put so much hope into those letters. With all of the things that _are_ going on, it would be easy for her to jump to conclusions and she's still weak from what happened to her. I just don't want her to crash again."

Karen leaned into her husband and hugged him tightly. There was a brief silence in which they both were thinking the same thing.

"She insists that there's nothing wrong with her but I can see the fear in her eyes," she whispered into his shoulder. "I want her to be happy again."

John sighed and pulled away from his wife, looking her in the eyes.

"I have an idea."

* * *

"Hermione! Come downstairs! You'll never guess who's here!"

Hermione instantly got out of her seat and hurried down the stairs, her heart pounding with anticipation of seeing bright red hair and beautiful green eyes. However, her heart fell at the sight of a young man she used to spend a lot of time with a long time ago.

"Curtis," she greeted in the most cheerful voice she could summon without sounding extremely disappointed. She checked her speed coming into the living room, not wanting to make him think that she was overly eager to see him. "Wow, how are you?"

He was taller than her. Almost Ron's height, but with brown, curly hair, like hers. He was handsome to say the least, with dark brown eyes and a body to rival Ron's if they ever met. Curtis Jackson had been her best friend before she had gone to Hogwarts and they had seen a bit of each other every summer before Hermione had gone over to the Weasley's.

When he saw her, he came over and gave her a huge hug, causing her to blush when he pulled away and looked her over carefully.

"Wow, Hermione. You look amazing," he gasped. Hermione blushed despite herself.

"Thanks Curtis, you look great yourself. I haven't seen you in so long," she said.

Curtis rolled his eyes.

"You would if you didn't go away every year for that boarding school," he said with a smile. Hermione smiled back.

"Well, if you came by more often then I would consider not going back."

"Would you?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I believe I would," she replied.

As she said that, she caught a look her father had on his face as he left the room. It was then that Hermione realized that she was flirting a little with Curtis. She mentally cursed herself and took a deep breath.

"So, what are you doing here?" she asked casually, sitting down on the couch. He sat down next to her. A bit too close, if she thought about it.

"I wanted to see you again. I heard you had come back a couple of weeks ago, but I was working, so I didn't have time to stop by. But now I'm here," he finished.

Hermione smiled.

"Well, I've been here all summer. I haven't had much to do except read and write letters to…" She suddenly drifted off, a small blush creeping onto her cheeks. Luckily, Curtis didn't catch the look.

"Who do you write to?" he asked with interest.

Hermione waved her hand nonchalantly.

"Oh, just some friends from school," she replied.

Curtis bit his lip.

"None of those friends happen to be _boy_friends, do they?" he asked curiously.

Hermione hesitated for a moment, a picture of Ron immediately coming to mind. She quickly shoved those feelings down and shook her head.

"No. I don't have a boyfriend."

Curtis looked very relieved at that information.

"Well, since you have nothing to do, I hope you don't mind if I ask you out to a movie?"

"A movie?"

Curtis nodded and Hermione smiled, remembering what her mother had said earlier about her not doing anything.

"That sounds like a lovely idea. I think my mum would be happy to get me out of the house anyway," she added, making him laugh.

"Great… anything in particular you'd like to see?"

Before Hermione could respond her mother came walking in, a letter in her hand.

"Hermione, you have a letter from… Hedwig," she hesitated upon seeing Curtis sitting there. Curtis frowned.

"Hedwig's a rather unusual name for a person," he said. Hermione smiled.

"Yeah, I have many unusual friends," she replied, taking the letter. "Do you mind? I've been waiting for this letter for a week."

Curtis shook his head.

"Go right ahead."

Hermione's smile broadened and she opened the letter quickly.

_Stop writing._

_Moony_

For a moment all Hermione could do was stare at the messy scrawl of her former teacher. Her eyes went over each letter and then each word as if hoping that they would have different meaning if she read them more carefully.

But they didn't…

They had a much harsher meaning every time she read the three words on the parchment.

She could feel the angry tears stinging her eyes and she blinked quickly to push them away. The fury that began to boil within her was unexpected and she let out a quick shallow gasp to release the breath she had been unconsciously holding since she had gotten the letter. Her fingers curled, crumpling the letter in her fist.

"Hermione, are you okay? Did something happen?"

She turned to see Curtis staring at her with deep concern.

"What?" Her voice sounded far away to her and she could see his eyes furrow together as the concern deepened.

"Hermione, you're all pale and sweaty," he said, taking a step towards her, his arms out as if at ready to catch her should she fall. Hermione looked down at the craggy letter in her pasty hand before she looked up at him.

"What's happening?" she whispered, the letter falling to the ground. She suddenly felt lightheaded and she sat down quickly on the couch, trying to think through the words that kept running through her head. Everything else around her was moving in slow motion.

_Stop writing…_

_Stop writing…_

_Stop writing…_

"Hermione!"

She hadn't realized that she was hyperventilating until her chest was heaving beneath her. Her body and mind had been working at completely different speeds so when her body finally caught up with her mind, her head overloaded with a rush of blood and she tipped to the side. Her head hit the side of the nightstand and she rolled off the couch to hit the ground hard.

"Mr. Granger! Mrs. Granger! Help!" Curtis yelled, pulling Hermione up to his chest and looking into her wide eyes. "Hermione, can you hear me?" Her eyes moved around confused as if she were searching for answers in the ceiling. She barely noticed the stinging at the side of her head or the light trickle of blood the slid down her pale face.

"What's happening?" she gasped. She heard her parents rush into the room, but she could no longer hear what was being said as her mind started to flash images of her dead friends. Tears fell from her eyes and she squeezed them shut to block out the images, but they only came faster and more detailed, shoving terror-stricken blue eyes and tortured green ones that stared back at her with dead souls into her mind. Whoever was holding her was trembling and sobbing as they rushed her up the stairs, their voices so far removed from Hermione that she could barely hear them.

"Ron," she heard herself say through the haze. "He's dead…"

"Hermione, Ron's not dead," said the muddled voice of her father. Maybe it was her mother…

"Is she okay?"

The voice seemed slow, as if it had had trouble getting through the fog of her mind, hitting her only a few letters at a time.

"She's breathing really fast," someone pointed out.

She was set down on something soft and warm, but that didn't stop the terror that had taken a firm grip on her heart and was trying to tug it out of her chest, causing it to burn and ache terribly.

"Hermione! Can you hear me?"

"What's wrong with her?!"

"Karen, go get some more sheets, she's trembling!"

So it hadn't been the person who was holding her who had been shaking. It was her. That's when she realized she was sobbing uncontrollably as she continued to hyperventilate, her eyes wide and blind to the people around her. She could see the Weasley family, all kneeling outside of the Burrow, facing away from the house. She wanted to go towards them, but there was something holding her back. She tried to call out to them, but there was a flash of green light and then they were lying on the cold ground, pale and lifeless.

"NO!"

Hermione's petrified scream shot through the entire house as she began to thrash around. Reality was completely removed from her as they tried to hold her down.

"Hermione!"

**A/N: Okay, so maybe it's a slightly _dramatic_ reaction to the news, but hey! It's my story, so... well... it's my story...**

**tamara72:** I'll try but I can't make any promises.

**Rumpleteaze:** I don't think that's a possiblity at the moment, but I'll take it into consideration.

**Wesker888:** Well, it seems like forever since I've heard from you so welcome back!

**ICanCTheFuture:** I hope you cant see the end of my story! That would be horrible! (Bad joke, but I couldn't help myself) :-)

**superstarsvtn:** I hope it stays that way!


	3. A Bit too much to Handle

**A/N: Thank you for your patience.**

_The beauty of the world has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder._ **-****Virginia Woolf**

* * *

"She's awake."

Hermione groaned at the volume of her father's voice and then the strained shush of her mother before the pressure beside her disappeared. For a moment she waited for someone to say something before she opened her eyes to see her parents nearby, watching her with extremely concerned faces. Her mother came back to her side, taking her hand.

"Are you okay?"

Hermione raised a hand to touch her head to touch her head which was throbbing terribly.

"Fine," she lied. "Where's Curtis?"

Her parents shared a glance.

"Hermione, you've been unconscious for a while," Mr. Granger whispered. Hermione frowned.

"How long?"

"A couple of days," her mother responded quickly. Hermione's eyes widened temporarily before her face flamed up when the event of what happened came to her in a sudden wave. She closed her eyes as she struggled to dispel those ugly and unwarranted conclusions to her overactive imagination and unanswered letters.

"Did I… did I _do_ anything that Curtis-"

"No," Mrs. Granger answered hastily. "When you stopped screaming…" This seemed to be a harder part for her to say. "When you stopped screaming, we were able to convince him that we would take care of you. You had a fever for a while and you were still mumbling to yourself, but after a while you fell asleep."

"Oh," was all Hermione could come up with. Her parents watched her carefully.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine mum," Hermione whispered, trying to ignore the aching pounding in her ears. "Really, mum, its okay. I was just overreacting."

Mr. Granger frowned.

"Hermione, that was not overreacting. You were hyperventilating, pale and screaming your head off," he said sternly, the frown growing deeper as the memory of that night becoming clearer as he spoke about it. "You were sobbing hysterically as well. That is not fine."

As he finished saying this the tears reappeared in Hermione's eyes and she quickly swiped at them angrily, remembering the letter clearly and painfully.

"Stop writing? Stop writing?!"

"Hermione, is that really what it said?" Mrs. Granger asked. Hermione looked surprised.

"You didn't read it?"

Her parents shook her head.

"We couldn't see the words, dear," her mother explained.

"Why would he want me to stop writing? What's going on?" Hermione said, not listening to a thing her mother had said. Mr. Granger sighed.

"Hermione, you need to calm down. You need to think about something else. You just had an episode and you're extremely weak. If you continue to get all worked up about this then you could have another episode and it would kill us if you didn't wake up."

Hermione's heart contracted painfully and she looked down at her hands, shaking her head.

"But you don't get it. Why would Lupin tell me not to write? Something bad is happening," she said. "

"Dear, you don't know that," Mr. Granger said. "They could just be in a very difficult position in which it's in your best interest not to write."

"But I _saw_ them, dad. I _saw_ the Weasleys die! I saw Harry and Ron! I saw them-" She choked on her tears and buried her face in her hands. She tried to breathe evenly through her fingers. She felt her mother run her hands over her hair.

"Hermione, you need to calm down, now," her mother begged. "I'm sure they're fine."

"Then why can't they contact me," Hermione cried. "Why can't they tell me what's wrong?"

"Maybe they're in a tough situation," Mr. Granger suggested desperately.

"I DON'T CARE!" she screamed violently shoving her covers away from her and jumping out of bed, disregarding the sudden rush of blood to her head and the nausea that came with it. "I DON'T CARE IF THEY'RE IN A TOUGH SITUATION! I CAN'T KEEP WAITING IN SILENCE!"

"Hermione!"

Her overexertion caused her to sway dangerously before she collapsed to the floor in an exhausted heap. She didn't hear the cries of her mother, nor did she feel her father pick her up and place her back on the bed. Words were passing through her lips more quickly than she could remember that she had thought about them.

"Hermione, you need to breathe!"

But it was too late.

Hermione gave one last attempt to wheeze in air before she fell back on the bed, unconscious.

* * *

A couple of weeks went by in which Hermione was forced to accept the cruel reality of her situation. She was alone.

For the first few days the Grangers watched their daughter carefully, not wanting her to fall back into the dangerous comatose state that had lasted almost five days the last time. Dark purplish black circles lingered under Hermione's tired eyes as she dragged herself around, face void of any emotion and body moving mechanically, absent of any form of life. Mr. Granger, after burning the letter, had decided to call the doctor. Though knowing they couldn't tell the man everything, it was better than sitting in painful silence, watching their daughter slowly fall apart. The doctor had prescribed some medicine for her to take, but after he had left, Hermione flat out refused to take them, insisting that nothing was wrong with her.

After that, she made an agonizing show of trying to prove to her parents that she was okay. She began to hang out with her old friends again and soon Curtis was around more often, the two either going out for ice cream or staying indoors to talk. Though it was obvious to her parents that Hermione was still a little unsteady, she was smiling again as she fought to forget where she hadn't been this summer and who she hadn't been with.

July was coming to a close, making it much harder for Hermione to concentrate on living through the day, but somehow she managed to remove herself from the excruciating depths of pain she felt every morning after a horrific nightmare and plaster a thin layer of skin over the massive hole where her heart had once been.

Maybe if she could fool everyone else into thinking she was happy, perhaps eventually she would be happy as well.

Mrs. Granger stopped at her daughter's door and looked in to see her sitting on the edge of her bed, tying her shoes. She was glad to see that, though she wasn't smiling, Hermione wasn't just… dead. Hermione looked calm and collected as she prepared for tonight.

Hermione looked up from tying her shoes to see her mother walk into her room with a smile.

"Are you going out with Curtis?" she asked curiously.

Hermione blushed, something Mrs. Granger had not seen in a long time. Curtis was a good thing.

"We're just going out to a movie, mum. We're not planning a wedding so don't get so excited," she replied.

Mrs. Granger shrugged.

"No, I suppose I suppose it is too early to be thinking about weddings."

"Curtis and I are just friends," Hermione reminded her, walking past her mother and down the stairs. Mrs. Granger smiled.

"Your father and I were 'just friends' also," she called down the stairs.

* * *

"Are you okay?"

Hermione looked up to see Curtis watching her carefully and she blushed under his intense gaze.

"Yes, I'm fine. I was just thinking is all," she told him, licking some of her ice cream.

"About?"

Hermione shrugged and offered a timid smile.

"You," she said.

Curtis snorted, tossing his ice cream away.

"Yeah right. What were you really thinking about?"

Hermione shook her head, her smile growing stronger.

"No really. I was thinking about you… and something my mother said earlier."

"What did she say?"

Hermione smiled.

"Nothing of significance."

Curtis pretended to be hurt by the statement.

"That's harsh," he said, nudging her playfully in the side. Hermione poked him back.

"Why? Did you think you think that we would hold a whole ceremony in which we listed all of the attributes that made you the amazing person you think you are?" she asked mockingly. Curtis smirked.

"Well, I was going more for the shrine with my face in the center and a diary with nothing but my name scribbled in it, but Pomp and Circumstance sounds even better," he replied coyly. Hermione smiled and looked around the street, noticing a few other couples laughing and enjoying their time together. That's when she realized how much of a good time she was having with Curtis and how much his presence distracted her from the gaping hole in her chest.

"I think it's more of the Death March if you ask me," she replied, finishing the rest of her ice cream and throwing the cup and napkin in the nearest bin. Curtis laughed and Hermione suddenly thought how much she loved his laugh. It was warm and comforting, even with all of the pain she was continuing to feel. It allowed her to feel relaxed and reminded her of the time she spent in the library, surrounded by books that made her feel safe and feel like she belonged. She liked that feeling.

They walked along the lit street quietly for a while, enjoying the silent company of the other.

"Well, how did you enjoy the movie?" Curtis finally asked. Hermione smiled and looked up at him.

"I liked it. Very funny," she lied. The truth was, she hadn't paid attention to half of it because of its ridiculous parallel to her own world. Curtis nodded in agreement.

"I loved the part where that wizard guy fell off his broom and actually caught that thing in his mouth. That would be amazing to be able to fly on a broom," he added excitedly.

"It's not that exciting," Hermione muttered darkly to herself.

"What?"

Hermione offered him a bright smile.

"I was just wondering how they actually got those people to fly like that. It's not like people can actually fly on brooms and stuff."

Curtis shrugged.

"I guess not. But I liked how they did away with that whole thing about witches riding on brooms to go wreak havoc on people and such. It was much more interesting that they flew brooms for sport. I wonder where they got that idea from," he pondered while completely missing the blush that was creeping onto Hermione's face as he continued to talk about her reality.

"Well, it's movie. I'm sure they make up a _lot_ of that stuff," she said insistently. Curtis nodded.

"Yeah…" he muttered, but she could tell that he was still thinking about it even after they had gone on to different topics. They walked around for a while, stopping occasionally at shop windows to look in. They stopped at one little vendor where Curtis looked around for something for his younger sister. As he did that, Hermione looked around the area curiously.

"This is nice," Curtis muttered, holding an ornate music box up for her to see. She smiled and nodded.

"You should definitely get it for her," she told him, glancing around at some other items before she spotted a window that caught her immediate interest. After Curtis had paid for his stuff, she took his arm and led him to the small shop near by.

"Let's go in here," she said intently. When Curtis noticed that it was a bookstore, he rolled his eyes in mock exasperation.

"Typical," he said jokingly. Hermione offered a smile while she searched through the books, hoping to find something that she hadn't read.

They stayed in the shop for a while before Curtis declared that Hermione had read absolutely every book known to man and that he should take her back home before it got too late. It was already dark outside and the street lights were on. They said goodbye to the store clerk and left, Hermione looking over at Curtis occasionally to see that he was looking at her as well.

As they walked home, she convinced herself that her feelings for this boy were only friendly while trying to shove away the painfully obvious feelings she had for a certain redhead.

"Thanks for the ice cream," she said, turning to face Curtis when they reached the front door. Curtis nodded.

"No problem. Thanks for dealing with me for a couple of hours."

Hermione smiled.

"I never had problems dealing with you," she said. "I just _really_ needed to get out of the house… well you know…"

Curtis nodded and for a moment they just stood there. Then he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers gently, causing her body to tense up at the action. She let him kiss her for a moment, thankful for any excuse to ignore the aching where her heart was supposed to be, before she pulled away, looking down at her shoes.

"Curtis… you and I-"

"I'm sorry," he interrupted, seeing the affect the kiss had had on her. Hermione sighed and looked up at him.

"No, Curtis, I'm sorry… it's just…"

"Ron?"

Hermione nearly blanched upon hearing the name and it took her a moment to recover from his shocking question.

"What?" was all that escaped her suddenly dry mouth. Curtis looked a little hesitant.

"Is it Ron?"

Hermione frowned.

"How do you know about Ron?" she asked before realizing how it must have sounded to him. But she didn't correct herself. Instead, she watched him carefully as embarrassment fell over his handsome features.

"You… well, you said his name quite a bit a couple of weeks ago… when you…" he seemed at a loss as to how to describe Hermione's episode.

"Freaked out?" Hermione offered tentatively, growing red herself from embarrassment. So she had been saying his name out loud. That was something her parents had failed to tell her. Curtis nodded timidly and they were silent for a moment before Hermione spoke. "Curtis, it's not Ron… he's just a friend of mine from school," she whispered softly, not wanting to scare him off. He looked up at her.

"Then what is it?" he asked, wanting to know the real reason to Hermione's odd behavior. Hermione sighed and took his hand.

"You're my _friend,_ Curtis," she whispered. "But we only see each other during the summer and I don't want to hold you back during the school year. We'll never see each other and to be quite honest, long distance relationships never work… trust me," she added, her mind flashing quickly to a handsome Quiddich player. "Besides… you've been so good to me for the past few weeks and I've _loved_ the time we've spent together… it would kill me to lose you as a friend," she said sincerely. "I love you too much."

She really meant what she said. She did love him. But only in the way she loved Harry or Ginny… never in the way she loved…

She stopped herself quickly from thinking those agonized thoughts and brought herself back to the present, where Curtis was staring at her, knowing that she had already made up her mind.

"I get it Hermione. It's okay," he said in a somewhat defeated tone. The thing that really amazed her was that she could tell that he actually did get her situation. That's what made this even more difficult.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

He offered her a brave smile.

"I'll get over it," he muttered. Hermione returned the gesture, leaning into him and resting her head against his chest while she felt his arms envelope her in his warmth. She closed her eyes to keep herself from crying as she hugged him tightly, afraid that if she let him go, she would never hear from him again.

"Thank you, Curtis," she whispered weakly into his shirt, breathing deeply as his hold tightened briefly. He leaned down and kissed her hair, smoothing it out with one hand while he held her with the other. He lingered there, closing his eyes as well as he breathed in her scent.

"I'll always be here for you, Hermione. You know that, right?"

Hermione pulled away a little so that she remained in his arms, but so that she could look into his sad eyes.

"I know," she murmured. They stared at each other for a moment before Hermione stood on her toes and kissed his cheek, remaining for a moment. "I'll always need you," she whispered into his ear before pulling away and turning to unlock her door. Before she went inside she looked back at him and smiled wanly.

"Goodnight," she murmured.

Curtis smiled and waved, starting off down the sidewalk.

"Night, Hermione," he said before leaving. Hermione watched him walk away through sad eyes before she turned and went inside.

"Hermione, is that you?" she heard her father call from his study.

"Yes Dad, I'm here," she called back tiredly.

"Did you have fun?" he asked as she entered his study and sat down heavily in a chair. She offered him a smile and nodded.

"Yes, I did."

Mr. Granger watched her closely.

"You like him?"

Hermione looked down at her hands.

"Yeah," she whispered, sighing. "But not in that way. We're just friends."

"Oh."

That was all he said.

That was all he _had_ to say. He knew what she was talking about and he didn't want to press the matter. He had finally gotten some remnant of his daughter back. He wasn't about to send her back into the pitiful darkness she had been wallowing in for the past few weeks.

**A/N: Well, I hope you all liked that**.

**sballLuvr5:** Well, you're just going to have to keep waiting, just like Hermione. :-)

**mrsronweasley2113:** I think her mind is just running away with her. She doesn't _really_ think they're dead, but with all the bad stuff that's happening in London and else where, she can't help but jump to conclusions, especially after that letter.

**mgmve2008:** All very good questions which I have absolutely no intention on answering any time soon. :-) Happy Reading!

**LadyInWriting:** Well, I can't really say _why_ he wrote it, but things are going to get a little bit more interesting, I suppose. At least I think they are. I don't really know.

**OzDust:** Ron is my guy also, but to be honest, Curtis is a little bit of a help for her. But they're not going to get to gether.

**tamara72:** Well, we'll just have to find out.

**Rumpleteaze:** Yeah, she definitely isn't used to that. Again, a little bit dramatic with the first part of the chapter, but I managed to calm her down at the second part.

**Wesker888:** Oh you have no idea... or maybe you do...

**mclaughlin:** Thank you!

**Headfirst for the Halos:** I would save your "poor Hermione's" for chapter 5.

**Chapter Tease:**

_"Hermione-"_

_"I saw them, Dad…"_

_There was a moment where no one said anything. All that could be heard was the clinking of the glass being placed into a small glass cup that had been in the bathroom. _

_"Hermione… you saw who?"_


	4. Slow Bleed

_But fate ordains that dearest friends must part._

**-Edward Young**

For Hermione, the rest of the summer dragged on like a blur. She tried desperately for distractions from the growing hole in her chest, usually spending time with Curtis, who was surprisingly enthusiastic about their friend-only dates despite that slightly embarrassing night. She allowed herself to enjoy his company as the time drew closer for her to board the Hogwarts Express.

Her parents could tell that their daughter was growing anxious as September came upon them. She would constantly glance at the clock, as if expecting it to speed forward into the next day or waiting for it to slow down to torture her longer. She was also rearranging her trunk frequently, making sure that everything was in there. She had even accidentally locked Crookshanks in there, but after two hours of yowling, Mrs. Granger came to the rescue, only to have her hands bitten by a terrorized cat. Hermione hadn't noticed a thing.

It was the day before Hermione was supposed to leave for Hogwarts and she was completely losing her mind. She was moving erratically from room to room, looking for an item that was prominent in her mind but no where to be found in her house. This worried her parents as they sat on the couch, too exhausted from her morning breakdown to chase her around the house to calm her down anymore. There was a lull before her intense ramblings around the house in which Mr. and Mrs. Granger managed to rest on the couch while their daughter stood in front of the window, staring out into the rain blankly.

Sighing, Mrs. Granger leaned into her husband as yet another door slammed shut as Hermione made her way to another room.

"Maybe we should go up there and try to help her," she whispered. Mr. Granger shook his head, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

"She'll just explode again and I would prefer if she wasn't screaming at us. I don't want to cause more stress than this is already causing. Tomorrow will be hard for her," he said, flinching a little when another door banged into the wall.

"What is she looking for?" Mrs. Granger mused, looking up at the ceiling as if hoping to see through to her out of control daughter.

"Probably just some book. You know how she-"

_Crash!_

Hermione's parents got up immediately and went up the stairs as fast as they could. They burst through the bathroom door to see Hermione standing in the middle of the bathroom, staring down at the broken mirror in shock, wearing shorts and a large t-shirt. She looked up at them slowly, as if still unaware of her surroundings.

"I… I cut myself," she whispered.

That's when they noticed the two deep cuts on Hermione's hands, dripping onto the shattered pieces the surrounded her and mirrored her dreamlike trance. She was about to take a step toward her parents when Mrs. Granger let out a squeak, noticing Hermione's bare feet.

"Don't move, Hermione!" she snapped heatedly, grabbing Mr. Granger's arm. "John, go get her before she hurts herself even more," she whispered urgently. Hermione's father moved quickly over the crackling pieces of glass, getting to his daughter and scooping her up as best as he could before carrying her out and sitting her down on the stairs.

"Hermione, are you okay?" he asked frantically while Mrs. Granger came out with tweezers, bandages and ointment. Hermione looked at her father and smiled.

"I'm fine dad," she whispered. "I just cut myself. I've been a little clumsy lately."

Her mother quickly and tearfully pulled out shards of glass from her hands while her father distracted her successfully from the pain.

"Hermione, look at me honey," he whispered. "What were you doing?"

Hermione shook her head.

"Dad… I… I'm sorry for what's happened… I'm sorry for being so horrible this summer and making you two feel like there's something wrong with me…"

"Hermione-"

"I saw them, Dad…"

There was a moment where no one said anything. All that could be heard was the clinking of the glass being placed into a small glass cup that had been in the bathroom.

"Hermione… you saw who?"

Hermione's eyes watered and she sighed.

"I'm not crazy, Dad… my mind… I haven't been completely honest with you," she murmured sadly, looking over at her mother, who was intently picking out the glass with a firm gaze and her lips in a thin line as if she were biting them so that she couldn't cry. "Mum, stop… mum… mum!" Mrs. Granger jerked and Hermione took another deep breath.

"Look… I'm not going to be here after tomorrow," she whispered. "I can't protect you and the Ministry won't do anything. Since I can't contact anyone there's no where for you to go so…" She suddenly switched gears, knowing she wasn't really making sense while doing so. "I got angry… I'm sorry I scared you with the mirror. I was just so… _angry_." The look in her eyes told them that whatever was going on within her was agonizing as she struggled to retain the sanity that had been slowly slipping out of her fingertips over the past couple of months. "I… I thought I could handle it… I thought I could shove everything away and just focus on what I had to do and it would all just go away… but tomorrow… I don't think I can do it… I haven't heard anything and then suddenly-"

She stopped herself there, sucking in air quickly. She looked down at her hands and bit her lip. She contemplated the words that she had just spoken and wondered if she had made any sense. Frowning she looked at both her parents.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I really am."

Mrs. Granger let out a pitying gasp and wrapped her arms around her daughter, pulling her to her and holding her tightly.

"Oh Hermione," she cried. "Oh dear… don't you _ever_ apologize for what has happened." She pulled away and took her daughter's face in her hands. "None of this is your fault and don't you ever think otherwise."

"Mum-"

"Your mother's right, Hermione. You have no reason to blame yourself. You don't have to carry this by yourself. There are people who are still here who love you."

Hermione looked at her father and nodded silently. Mrs. Granger smiled and returned to pulling out the last pieces of glass from Hermione's hands.

"Ouch," Hermione gasped, tugging her bleeding hands away. Mr. Granger couldn't help but smile at the action.

"You manage to pull a mirror down from the wall and endure the pain, but your mother pulls out a small piece of glass and _suddenly_ it hurts?" he asked.

Hermione let out a weak laugh while her mother cleaned the blood from her hands.

"Ha ha, dad."

_Ding dong!_

Hermione looked up.

"Curtis."

"He's coming over?" her father asked. Hermione nodded, wincing when her mother poured the antiseptic over her hands. Mrs. Granger quickly bandaged the wounds before she moved on to Hermione's bare legs. Hermione promptly shoed her mother away and stumbled down the stairs, grabbing hold of the side of the wall and taking a deep breath, ignoring the quick searing pain that shot from the palms of her hand. She could hear her parents coming down the stairs so she made her way to the front door before they could get a hold of her.

"Hermione!" Curtis greeted, thankful to get out of the driving rain. He stepped inside and shrugged his coat off, smiling brightly at her, his mood a deep contrast to the dreary weather outside. Hermione grinned and closed the door behind him, happy to have someone to pull her out of her tortured ramblings. Curtis was about to say something else when he noticed the bandages on her hands. Frowning he stepped towards her in concern.

"Hermione, what happened to you?"

Hermione shook her head, looking down at them then up at him.

"I just cut myself on some glass," she said wistfully, not wanting to think about the reason for doing so. "Did you just get in from work?"

Curtis looked over at Hermione's parents, who were by the couch, watching their daughter with extreme concern. It was as if they were living with two different people.

"Hermione, you should sit down," her mother said. Hermione nodded and sat down, patting the spot beside her for Curtis to sit down, who still looked concerned.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Hermione nodded, pulling her knees up beneath her and turning so that she could face him completely.

"I'm fine," she whispered. "They're just a couple of cuts…"

"But-"

"Curtis, this is my last day in London, do you really want to spend it discussing in-depth on how I got my cuts?" she asked incredulously, causing him to bit his lip before returning to his previous happy mood. Mrs. Granger gave her daughter a funny look before leaving the room with her husband.

"I was almost afraid I wouldn't get here before you went to bed," he told her as he pulled out something from his pocket. "I wanted to make sure I got this to you before you left."

Hermione gasped and took the small pocketbook gingerly in her fingertips, running her thumb over the old leather and gold leaf paper. There was ancient writing etched on the front and each page was written in perfect Greek.

"Curtis… it's beautiful… but how-"

"I noticed you eyeing it a couple of weeks ago when we went down to the bookstore," he whispered. Hermione stared at the book for moment before she threw herself at him, hugging him tightly while trying not to cry.

"Thank you, Curtis," she whispered into his ear and she felt his arms tighten around her. She pulled away from him a little and kissed his cheek. "For everything. I would have never made it through this summer without you."

Curtis smiled.

"Well, I'm glad I was such a distraction," he replied. "Just make sure that you write while you're at school or _I'll_ be the one going crazy."

Hermione laughed and looked back down at the book in her hand.

"I'm sorry about that… and I'm sorry for acting so weird all summer. I've just been a little stressed…"

Curtis held up his hand so that she could not continue.

"Don't try to explain anything to me, Hermione. I understand. With all the weird stuff that's been happening in London, I can understand why you're scared for your friends."

Hermione's heart swelled painfully at the compassion in his voice and she hugged him again.

"You're such a wonderful person, Curtis," she whispered. "I just hope you find someone who appreciates you more than I do."

He shook his head, noticing the sad look in her eyes as he pulled away from her.

"Don't say that Hermione. You are possibly the most appreciative person I have ever known… and the smartest," he added as an afterthought. Hermione tried to smile but failed miserably, causing him to laugh. "Oh come on, Hermione! You can't be so modest all the time!"

Hermione sighed.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "I just meant that… well… you and I…"

A knowing look past over Curtis's eyes and he frowned, distancing himself a little from Hermione. She immediately felt the loss of him and reached out to take his hand, but winced at the pain that shot from her wounded hand. His frown deepened and he stood up.

"Maybe you should get some rest," he suggested, pointing at her hands. "They look like they hurt a lot."

Hermione shook her head.

"It's not that bad," she muttered.

But Curtis wasn't going to have any of it. He called Hermione's mother and told her that Hermione was in pain and needed to lie down. Hermione scowled at him, but instead of protesting she allowed him to help her up the steps and to her room. As they walked down the hall, Hermione glanced into the bathroom where her father was cleaning up the shattered mirror.

"Here you go," Curtis whispered, helping her into the bed before sitting down on the side and looking down at her.

"Are you going to tuck me in as well?" she asked sarcastically. Curtis smiled.

"I'll even sing you a lullaby if you want," he responded with a much more cheerful tone. Hermione made a face and he burst out laughing, which removed the grimace on her face and replaced it with a wane smile.

"Goodnight," she muttered and he nodded, getting up. He leaned down and kissed her temple before going over to the door.

"Goodnight, Hermione," he whispered. "I'll miss you."

Hermione smiled and waved a little.

"I'll miss you too," she replied sincerely, missing him already.

Then he was gone, leaving Hermione to a long night of wondering whether or not tomorrow would bring the presence she had so desperately craved since the beginning of the summer, or send her yet again into another storm of confusion.

**A/N: Do not worry. We'll see what's really going on soon enough. Be of good cheer!**

**LadyInWriting:** I hope you enjoy this as well.

**sballLuvr5:** I like Curtis as well! I think he really helps Hermione.

**jenny:** You will get more chapters!

**mgmve2008:** Moony is Lupin. Remember the Muarder's map? (Spelling?) Messers Moony, Padfoot, Prongs and Wormtail, not exactly in that order.

**kar33m:** Thanks!

**Chatper Tease:**

_"Why aren't you with Ron and Harry?" she asked... _

_"I can't find them. I seen them since the beginning of June," she (Hermione) replied. _

_"Seriously?"_

_Everyone looked shocked. Hermione nodded. _

_"Yeah… I haven't even gotten a letter from them."_

_"Do you think something happened?" Seamus asked. Dean snorted. _

_"And they didn't tell Hermione? All three of them are joined by the hip," he said smugly. "They would have told her something."_


	5. Train Anxiety

_Panic is a sudden desertion of us, and a going over to the enemy of our imagination._

**-Christian Nevell Bovee**

* * *

When she arrived on the platform, Hermione took a moment to breathe deeply through her nostrils, calming herself down as she grabbed the carrier Crookshanks was in and walked along with her parents, who were carefully pushing the cart through the throngs of students on the platform.

Her eyes moved quickly over the crowd, trying to locate the familiar flash of red hair above many of the rest. If she could find the Weasleys she would find Harry as well.

She saw a couple of red heads, but they were only a couple of short third years. She felt someone squeeze her arm and she looked over at her mother.

"Don't worry, Hermione," Mrs. Granger whispered, noticing her daughter's anxious look. "I'm sure they're just a little late. With all those children, the house must be chaotic."

Hermione tried to smile, but if faltered as she tried to find evidence of her friends.

"Hey, Hermione, isn't that the woman who was with you last year? The one with the unusual name? What was it? Monk? Punk?"

"Tonks?" Hermione asked eagerly, craning her head to look over in the direction her father was pointing. Tonks was standing near the entrance to the platform, leaning against the pillar with a frown on her face as she also scanned the students with emotionless eyes. A small gasp escaped Hermione's dry lips and after setting her stuff down, she made her way through the excited students to where Tonks was.

"Tonks! Tonks!" she gasped, stopping in front of the young woman and smiling. "I'm so glad to see you! I was worried I wouldn't see anyone…" Hermione trailed off when she saw a pained look flash across Tonks eyes the moment she laid eyes on the young Gryffindor. It was the same look the Auror had given her earlier that summer, but it remained on Tonks' face much longer before she managed to offer a pathetic smile to Hermione. It was then that Hermione saw just how bad the woman looked. Her hair was once again that scraggly mousy color while her eyes were red with deep bruises under them. Her face was gaunt and pale, like she had not slept in a very long time.

"Oh Hermione," she whispered. "Um… what are you doing here?"

Hermione frowned.

_What?_

"Tonks, what's wrong?"

Suddenly the woman's eyes widened as if she just realized that she had made a horrible mistake. She bit her lip and stood straighter, another look of fleeting pain crossing her eyes again, but she swallowed that quickly.

"Nothing's wrong," she muttered, glancing around the platform to avoid Hermione's eyes. Hermione's eyes narrowed.

"Where are Ron and Harry?" she asked carefully, watching Tonks for another unusual reaction. Tonks didn't fail. She blanched visibly and flinched at the tone of Hermione's accusing voice, but she refused to meet her eyes.

Luckily for her though, the Hogwarts Express blared its horn, calling everyone to board the train. Hermione heard her parents calling for her and Tonks seemed very eager to leave.

"I'll see you later, Hermione," she muttered before disappearing quickly into the exit. Hermione stood there frozen for a moment, unable to comprehend Tonks unusual behavior.

"Hermione, the train's going to leave!"

Biting her lip, she turned and went back to her parents, grabbing all of her stuff and dragging it onto the train. She waved feebly at her parents before she headed off down the carriages, looking into each room for her friends.

She stopped when she saw Neville Longbottom sitting beside a girl Hermione didn't recognize; an arm around her as if trying to console her.

Strange…

Hermione pulled the door open and leaned in.

"Hi Neville," she greeted.

He jerked upright at her voice and for the longest time he just stared at her through red eyes, the pain evident in his face. He then cleared his throat and instead of smiling, he looked uncomfortable.

"Hermione… um…" He couldn't think of what else to say and Hermione frowned.

"Is everything all right?" she asked, her eyes flitting over to the girl in the corner who still had her head down, her short blond hair falling in her face. He paled a little before he gave a weak attempt at smiling.

"Um… yeah, everything's fine," he muttered. "Um… did you need something?"

The way he said this was a very obvious attempt to get her to leave, which startled Hermione even more. Since when was Neville rude?

This made Hermione hesitate and Neville realize his tone. He bit his lip and glanced over at the other girl, who had not moved at all since Hermione had arrived.

"I… I was wondering if you had seen Ron, Harry or Ginny?" Hermione asked finally.

The girl in the corner let out a pain stricken squeak before falling into a sniffling silence, causing Hermione to finally focus her attention on her.

"_Luna_?"

Indeed, the girl in the corner was Luna Lovegood. But she looked completely different. Her long flowing hair had been cut to her shoulders, she was wearing _normal_ clothes with no unusual jewelry, her face was blotchy and pale, just like Tonks' had been, and her overall body language was that of a wounded animal, curling up to die.

Neville must have noticed Hermione watching Luna for a while because he suddenly stood up and went over to the door.

"Sorry, Hermione, we haven't seen any of them, but if we do, you'll be the first to know," he snapped curtly, shutting the door in Hermione's face, but not before Luna released another hurting sound. Hermione stared through the glass, stunned by Neville's sudden change in behavior, before she picked her stuff up and left to go find someone else who would be more willing to disclose what was going on.

Unfortunately, she only found Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, who waved at her and motioned for her to come join their group. Seamus and Dean were also with them. Seamus, Dean and Parvati, Hermione could deal with, but Lavender had always been a touchy subject for her and it had always been uncomfortable for her to be around the perky blonde who, though rejected several times, continued to seek Ron's affections.

After Hermione had settled down, Parvati focused all of her attention on the shocked girl.

"Why aren't you with Ron and Harry?" she asked. Hermione shrugged, her mind still going over Neville's reaction and Luna's distressing appearance.

"I can't find them. I seen them since the beginning of June," she replied.

"Seriously?"

Everyone looked shocked. Hermione nodded.

"Yeah… I haven't even gotten a letter from them."

"Do you think something happened?" Seamus asked. Dean snorted.

"And they didn't tell Hermione? All three of them are joined by the hip," he said smugly. "They would have told her something."

Hermione frowned.

"I'm a little worried. No one's seen them at all?"

They all shook their heads and Hermione's heart fell. They all caught the look in her eyes and tried to cheer her up.

"I'm sure they're on the train some where, Hermione," Lavender tried to assure her. "They're probably fighting with Malfoy or something."

This time, it was Dean's turn to cringe. They all looked at him and he shook his head.

"They're definitely not bothering Malfoy," he said, glancing quickly out to where a few people were moving by. "The snake's been missing all summer and now the story is that he's out with his father, doing You-Know-Who's dirty work."

Hermione frowned.

"How do you know all of this?"

Dean shrugged.

"My father's been involved with the people who are trying to keep tabs on the Malfoys," he told them, leaning back in his seat. "He tells me stuff now and again."

They were silent for a while until Hermione spoke again.

"Does anyone know what happened to Neville and Luna?"

"Luna Lovegood?" Seamus asked curiously. Hermione nodded and they all shrugged.

"I heard that something bad happened this summer," Parvati answered, suddenly very serious. Her brow creased into a frown as she thought for a moment. "I tried asking Neville what was wrong, but he just snapped at me like I'd told him his gran was ugly." She sniffed. "He's been rather rude to everyone to think about it. I heard him screaming at some second year who asked Lovegood if she was okay."

Seamus frowned.

"What _is_ wrong with Lovegood? I mean, did anyone notice how she's cut all her hair off?" he asked.

Hermione wrapped her arms around herself, remembering the dejected and heartbreaking feeling that was generated from Luna's hunched form while Neville seemed to be trying to hold her together.

"Did anything happen this summer? With any of them?" she asked.

Lavender shook her head.

"Not that I'm aware of… but then again, no one's heard _anything_ from any of them. It's like the Weasleys sort of just dropped off the planet," she said in a depressed voice that clearly told Hermione that the girl had not gotten over Ron yet. But instead of commenting on it, she just sat there in silence, chewing on her lip as the hills zipped by like dark gloomy mounds as foreboding clouds began to roll over the mountains in the distance, covering the world around them in a fabric of a tense atmosphere.

* * *

When Hermione got off of the train, she didn't follow the rest immediately. She stood off to the side, scanning the platform at Hogsmeade, searching for the familiar large bulk of Hagrid.

But like the others, he wasn't there. Instead, a witch Hermione didn't recognize was calling the first years over to her. She must have been in her late twenties, judging by her looks, but she seemed younger by the way she was beckoning the first years, smiling and waving animatedly. She had dark ebony skin and bright hazel eyes that shone in the darkness as she pointed towards the docks. She seemed friendly, but Hermione wasn't interested in finding out why she was here… no yet.

"Where is everyone?" Hermione mused, but she had to force herself not to jump to conclusions too quickly. She knew that it would be dangerous for her to do that, so instead she took a very deep breath and slowly released the air that had been building up in her lungs. "It's okay, Hermione. You're just a little paranoid that's all. I'm sure Hagrid's just busy with other things." But even as she tried to convince herself of that, she noticed Neville and Luna exit the train. Luna looked just as miserable as ever and Neville seemed ready to take on any person who gave Luna a second glance. For a moment, Hermione contemplated going over to them, but after a second thought, she decided against it, knowing she would have other chances to talk to the two.

So instead, she headed over to the carriages and got into the one carrying an already excited Parvati and Lavender. Sighing, she sat next to an exasperated Dean, who was trying to convince Lavender that Divination was not the best class to be taking for their final year. Hermione sighed again and stared out the carriage door, blocking out the bickering, wishing that it was her who were arguing the point and that Dean were a taller, paler red headed boy.

"Where are you guys?" she whispered into the dark. "I need you."

**A/N: Pretty short chapter, but very enlightening. At least on certain issues. **

**ThEnAmEsGiGi:** Yes, Curtis is awesome. As for Harry and Ron, we'll just have to wait and see. No, Hermione's not going crazy. She's just having very ominous dreams because of her fears, that's all. Her imagination's getting the best of her.

**x-x-xCAROLANNEx-x-x:** I'm glad you like it.

**Rumpleteaze:** Hermione didn't really _see_ anybody. Like I said earlier, her imagination and dreams are getting out of control because of her fears. Yes, I know this one is a bit slow at first, but don't worry! It _will_ get interesting. I promise! Scouts honor! (Three fingers held high!)

**Wesker888:** I don't think you have to worry about him. I think in this one, I'm going to keep one of the few people my audience likes, good. I like him too much to make him evil.

**firefairy2917:** I'll try to cut down the suspense, but I can't make too many promises.

**mrsronweasley2113:** No, she wasn't. She just wasn't paying attention to what she was doing, that's all.

**mgmve2008:** Tis okay! I've made so many character mistakes in these stories that it's not even funny! Don't worry! Just read and be happy! Or depressed... which ever one comes first! :-)

**tamara72:** I don't think Hermione enjoyed it as much as she thought she would.

**Chapter Tease:**

_"Are you okay?" he asked. _

_"I'm fine, Neville," she whispered dully. "I just need some time to get used to her. You don't have to be so tense."_

_"I know… it's just hard. Hermione's smart. She'll figure it out."_


	6. Web of Lies

**A/N: I'm going to enjoy this.**

_Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth_. **-Franklin D. Roosevelt**

* * *

"Albus," Minerva whispered, leaning towards the older man as he sat down from giving his typical start of the year speech. The students were all eating and chattering excitedly about the prospects of the year. All except three anyway.

"Yes, Minerva?" Albus replied, sipping at his goblet. Minerva inclined her head towards one of the three students. The young woman was sitting with a group of students who were all speaking to each other with gusto, but the Gryffindor didn't seem to be interested in the conversation. Her attention was on the other two, who were sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table. "Ah… has she said anything to anyone yet?"

Minerva frowned.

"I spoke to Nymphadora just before this and she told me that Hermione approached her at Platform nine and three quarters just before the train left. The poor girl looked positively frightened from what I gather," she whispered quickly, keeping her eyes on Hermione Granger. Dumbledore nodded and sighed.

"Has anyone said anything to her?"

McGonagall shook her head.

"The other two have kept their promise, Albus, but I don't know how long that will last. Hermione's much too smart to be kept in the dark for such a long time. She'll figure it out sooner or later."

"You know we cannot risk it… let us just see how this year goes and we'll reevaluate the situation on a different time," he murmured. "Have you heard anything from Hagrid?"

Once again, the professor shook her head, a pained look crossing her aged features.

"Nothing yet, Albus."

"Then we'll just have to wait…"

* * *

After she led the younger students to their dormitories, Hermione headed to her private dormitory. As she walked along the dark corridors, she tried to think over everything that had happened that day.

Harry, Ginny and Ron were still missing with no hint as to why. Something bad had happened over the summer to cause Luna and Neville pain and everyone else that Hermione knew seemed to be trying to cover it up…

"What's going on?"

"Is that you, Ms. Granger?"

Startled, Hermione spun around to see Nearly-Headless Nick floating by a suit of armor, looking a little alarmed by Hermione's outburst.

"Oh… Nick… I'm sorry…" she apologized. "I was just talking to myself."

The ghost smiled.

"People tend to be doing that lately," he said. "Are you alright? I don't see your two companions with you."

Hermione bit her lip and shook her head.

"That's my problem, Nick. I can't find them anywhere. They weren't on the train and they weren't at dinner. They haven't answered my letters _all_ summer either," she told him. Nick looked surprised.

"Really? That's rather unusual. I actually saw them this summer," he said, frowning. "They seemed in such a rush. Something about seeing Dumbledore and Hagrid. Didn't even stop to talk."

Hermione frowned.

"They were here?"

Nick nodded to the best of his ability while trying not to make his head fall.

"Upset about something, though they didn't say much. It was only a month or so ago."

Hermione was about to ask him more about it, but Professor Snape showed up, frowning deeply. However, rather than sneer at her, he seemed rather upset at her presence.

"Ms. Granger," he said coolly. "Just because you are Head Girl, does not mean you can be out whenever you please."

Nick moved into Snape's view, causing the man's eyes to narrow.

"I apologize, Professor. We were just catching up," he said. "I was just telling her about how her friends, Harry and-"

"That's quite enough, Nick," Snape snapped, looking very upset now. His eyes flashed over at Hermione before he turned back to the ghost. "You should go see Dumbledore."

"But-"

"Now, Nick," Snape growled before turning to Hermione. "Ms. Granger, your dormitory?"

Hermione hesitated before turning around and heading off down the hallway towards her Head Girl's room. Her mind hurt with all of the information she had just been given.

Harry and Ron had been here…

That meant that they could still be okay…

Hermione muttered her password and went to her room quickly, changing her clothes and hopping into the bed as soon as she could, trying to think about what would explain the strange things that were happening.

Tonks' unusual behavior…

Neville's rudeness…

Luna's depression…

Hagrid's disappearance…

Snape's… well… she didn't know what had happened, but she knew he wasn't acting right either…

Everyone was stepping on eggshells around her and she was starting to grow weary of it and to be quite honest, it was terrifying her.

What was going on?

* * *

The next morning was pretty much the same as the night before. Excited voices and missing friends. Hermione sat herself down between Parvati and a very chatty Colin Creevy. Parvati gave Hermione a grateful look as Colin suddenly turned his attention to Hermione.

"Hey, Hermione."

"Hi Colin," she muttered, rubbing the dark circles under her tired eyes.

"You don't look so good? Did you sleep okay?" he asked, concern dripping from his voice. Hermione sighed, grabbing a piece of fruit from a near by basket.

"I didn't sleep that well, I suppose… just worried that's all. Have you seen Harry or Ron?" she asked. Colin looked surprised that she was asking him that question.

"They're not with you?" he asked in a shocked tone.

_Were we that inseparable that people find it strange for me to be asking where they were?_ Hermoine mused to her self while shaking her head.

"No, they aren't with me," she answered calmly, quickly glancing over the Great Hall for some hint of familiar life. But there was nothing there. Just regular students and serious professors. "Have you seen them?" she asked again. Colin shook his head quickly.

"No. I haven't seen them since last school year. Are they not here?"

As he said this, Hermione spotted Neville leaving with Luna by his side. She was leaning against him, but Hermione couldn't see her face.

"I'll see you later, Colin," Hermione muttered, getting up and hurrying after the two. "Neville! Luna!"

Neville turned around to see who it was and once again he paled at the sight of Hermione. This time, Hermione wasn't about to let it go.

"What's going on? What's wrong?" she asked, glancing over at Luna, who was avoiding Hermione's gaze altogether. "Luna, what happened to you?"

"Nothing, Hermione. Nothing happened," Neville muttered, pulling on Luna as he started to walk again. "If you'll excuse us-"

"Where's Ron and Harry?" Hermione asked, causing them to freeze. That was all she needed. She moved so that she was facing them, her eyes pleading with them. "Please, Neville… tell me what's going on-"

"I don't know what you're talking about Hermione," Neville snapped quickly, causing Luna to flinch.

"Neville-"

"We have to go, Hermione. Luna's not feeling well," he murmured before pushing past Hermione and going in the direction of the Hospital Wing. Hermione just stood there for what seemed like forever, stunned.

How many knew?

And what were they hiding?

* * *

"Alright class, settle down!"

It was the woman Hermione had seen at the lake. Her name was Stephanie Warner and she had just arrived here from Egypt, though she born in Jamaica.

She was a breath of fresh air for the students in the Defense against the Dark Arts class, glad for a bright new face after all the others who had not turned out so well.

"I guess Snape couldn't nail it again," Seamus muttered to Dean behind Hermione, who unfortunately found herself sitting with Lavender. Neville was sitting in front of Hermione, but he refused to say anything to her.

"_Professor_ Snape didn't apply for the job this year, Mr. Finnegan," Warner said over her shoulder as she wrote down a spell on the board.

"How-"

"I might explain later, but right now we have to start," she said, turning to face the class. "Now… do any of you know anything about the origins of the Bermuda triangle?"

Hermione's hand shot up and everyone else just rolled their eyes. Warner smiled.

"Ms. Granger?"

"The Bermuda Triangle is a sanctuary zone for endangered aqua creatures," she recited. "These creatures are said to attack a few times if Muggle ships or planes get too close."

Warner nodded, going over to a cage no one had noticed until now. It had a large blanket on top of it. Immediately everyone rose a little in their seats, the memory of their second year becoming very clear in their minds. Warner noticed their movement and smiled.

"Don't worry," she said. "Professor Lockhart had no _idea_ about Cornish Pixies. I have everything under control. In fact, for this class, I won't even let it out."

With that said, she pulled off the blanket and every single girl in the class gasped.

"It's _so_ adorable!" Lavender squealed and Hermione winced, her eyes still on the small creature.

It was the size and shape of a ferret or weasel, but with bright purple eyes and what seemed to be furry wings at its sides. Its tail, which was way to long for a creature of its size, flicked nervously from side to side, gliding along the bars of the cage with a tinkling sound.

Warner squatted down so that she could look into the cage and her smile faded into a serious look.

"Does anyone know what this is?"

Again, only Hermione raised her hand.

"Ms. Granger?"

"A Transylvanian Skyfox," she said, a hint of awe in her voice. "They're said to be very rare."

"They are," Warner replied, standing back up. "And they are _very_ dangerous if not handled properly. They originated from Transylvania, but were relocated to the Bermuda Triangle when the vampires started killing them off for their fur. Skyfoxes are _extremely_ wild and unpredictable. Since they're so rare, not many people have seen them and have been able to study them."

"How did you get that one?"

"A close friend and I took a trip down to the Bermuda Triangle this summer and managed to catch one before he chewed through a plane engine. Cheeky little buggers," she muttered.

"What do they do?" Seamus asked.

Warner's grin returned.

"That's what we're going to find out."

"I thought this was Defense against the Dark Arts," a Slytherin said loudly. "Why are we looking at bloody animals?"

Warner just smiled.

"Well, Mr. Grason. Since you seem so eager to find out why we are dealing with this creature, why don't you be the first volunteer? Come on, don't be shy. I heard that Slytherins were very brave," she said. Many Gryffindors laughed at the comment and Grason scowled, standing up and moving to the front of the class.

Warner pulled out her wand and began to instruct him.

"Okay, Mr. Grason. Take out your wand. Keep your eye on the fox and make sure you're quick because the moment that little girl gets out, she's going to be moving. I want to ask that you only use disarming spells, because as cute as this thing is, I don't want you to upset it by hurting it. Everyone else, try not to make any noise. And… keep your heads down," she added before turning to Grason. "You ready?"

Grason nodded and Warner flicked her wand at the cage door. The door opened but the creature remained inside, staring out with curious purple eyes.

"Why are her eyes purple?" Pansy Parkinson asked curiously.

Warner glanced over at her.

"She's nervous," she replied. "A Skyfoxes' eyes change with their feelings. Her normal eye color is actually white. Shh!"

The creature was poking his head out of the cage, sniffing the air carefully. Its head swiveled around to stare at the students before it pulled itself up on to two legs and reached out for the top of the cage. It lifted itself up to the top of the cage and crouched there for a moment before it sniffed again, then its eyes changed from purple to green.

Suddenly it took off, a blur for a moment before everyone saw that it was flying in the air, zooming around the room like a rocket.

"Mr. Grason, if you please," Warner muttered, watching the creature as it moved. "Mr. Grason!"

"Expelliarmus!"

The curse hit the ceiling, barely missing the creature. Grason tried three more times, each time missing the creature by a lot more. That's when the creature began dive bombing him, butting its head against the boy's shoulders roughly.

"Parihilcon!"

The creature let out a short squeak and dived back into the cage, barely getting its tail in before the door slammed shut.

Everyone else let out the breath they had been holding the moment the cage had been opened.

"Thank you, Mr. Grason," Warner said, trying not to smile as the boy rubbed the bruises that were starting to form under his robes. "I suggest you go to see Madame Pomfrey after class. Tell her what happened."

A couple of Gryffindor boys sniggered.

"Class! I know this was funny, but what I wanted you to see was the strength of the creature and its movements. Why would such a creature be necessary for a class such as this?"

People were silent for a while. But as Hermione thought about it, she finally realized why this creature was such an important aspect of this class.

"Because Voldemort's trying to breed them," she blurted out.

There was a collective hissing sound from the Slytherin side and quite a few people fell off their chairs at the name. Others just stared at Hermione as if she'd lost her mind. Warner looked pleased.

"Exactly, Ms. Granger. Voldemort _is_ trying to get a hold of some of these amazing creatures because of how dangerous they can be."

"But I thought you said they were wild. How does You-Know-Who going to tame them?" Parvati asked.

Warner shook her head.

"They can be tamed individually, but not in the sense of broken or trained. Skyfoxes are very interesting creatures. They attach themselves to one person in their entire lives and stay with them. It's an unusual but beautiful relationship. Anyone should be lucky to have one. We believe that Voldemort is planning on breeding them in hopes that they will become attached to himself and other Death Eaters. That is why it is important for us all to know how to deal with these creatures so that if Voldemort _does_ manage to breed these creatures, we will be able to fight them."

"But they're so small."

Warner pointed to the back of the room where Grason was sitting.

"If you ask Mr. Grason, I'm sure he'll tell you that those bruises hurt quite a bit. And that was just when she was bumping him," she explained. "These things can break necks if they really wanted to."

"Do they attack often?"

"Only if provoked or if the person they are attached to is harmed in any way. They usually share the feelings of their person, so they know when their person is in trouble. That's one of the benefits of having one of these things attached to you."

"Is that one attached to you?" Parvati asked, hoping the answer would be no.

"No it's not. She actually grew attached to my friend. I'm just borrowing her for the class… well… that's it for today," she finished, glancing at her watch. "Mr. Grason, don't forget to stop off at the Hospital wing. Those bruises only get worse the longer they go untreated."

Hermione sighed and began to pack up her notes, wishing terribly that Ron and Harry had been there to see that amazing creature. As people began to file out, Hermione walked over to the cage where the skyfox was licking its paws. The creature looked up at Hermione for a moment before it returned back to grooming itself, yawning in boredom.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?"

Hermione looked up to see Warner watching her carefully, a smile on her face.

"Oh… hello, Professor Warner," Hermione said. "I'm-"

"I know who you are, Hermione," she said. "I've heard a lot about you from a few of the professors. You're quite the student."

Hermione blushed, glancing back down at the cage.

"I just try."

Warner's smile broadened.

"Modest also," she whispered before noticing the sad look that fell upon the girl's face. "Is something wrong Hermione?"

Hermione shook her head.

"No. I'm fine. I was just thinking about…" she hesitated then tried to smile again. "I should go. I have another class."

Warner placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder and the frown on her face deepened into something between pain and concern right before her eyes went blank.

"Oh… You-"

Suddenly the creature in the cage started whimpering just as the classroom door opened. Hermione and Warner turned to see Professor Snape walk in, frowning when he caught sight of Hermione.

"Ms. Granger. Don't you have a class to be in?" he asked as the creature began to paw at the cage, eyes on the Head of Slytherin intently. Warner seemed to snap out of the trance she was in and stared at Snape with a frown. She looked like she was extremely upset about something and completely forgot that Hermione was there.

"Severus, the boys-"

"Ms. Granger, your class," Snape interrupted, eyeing Hermione. The Head Girl seemed to want to say something, but instead she picked up her bag and walked out of the room, closing the door gently behind her. But she didn't leave. She wanted to know what was going on. She dug through her bag and pulled out a pale stringy thing with an ear at the end and held it to the door. The creature was yelping now and Warner was sighing.

"Severus, take her out before she starts screaming," the professor snapped. There was a momentary silence and then the yelping stopped and now Hermione could hear purring.

"What have you seen?" Snape finally asked.

"I saw Harry Potter, but it was a bit hazy… like he was walking through mist or something. I can't be sure where he is though. He wasn't seeing much, so he probably doesn't know where he is… he wasn't any immediate danger, but he's not in a place he should be."

Hermione's heart was now stuck in her throat at this information. They knew about Harry and Ron.

"Anything else?"

"Severus, it was only for a moment. She's really scared so that sort of stopped everything."

"You didn't say anything."

"Shouldn't she know?"

"No she shouldn't."

Snape sounded annoyed now and this worried Hermione.

Why couldn't she know?

"Severus, she's frightened."

"And we need to keep her that way. For her safety."

"And Harry?"

Hermione could almost see the sneer that was on Snape's face when he spoke.

"If Potter's somewhere he shouldn't be, then I have no doubt that he's up to his whole _save the world_ routine again," he drawled.

"And Ron?"

"You didn't see him so he could be somewhere else."

"Do they split up often?"

"No."

There was another tense silence where all Hermione could hear was the purring.

"When's Hagrid coming back?" Warner asked suddenly.

"Soon, I suppose," Snape responded in a disinterested tone. "I'm sure he'll make it back before the first game."

Another silence.

"I should go."

"Are you going to take her?" Warner asked.

"No, she should stay here. I don't need her getting into the potions," Snape muttered before Hermione heard him close the cage. The creature began to whimper again, but Hermione was already moving away from the door, her mind whirling around.

Why did she have to be kept in the dark?

And where were Harry and Ron? And Ginny?

"Ms. Granger!"

Hermione gasped and stepped back after have run into Professor McGonagall. The older woman looked very surprised to see Hermione and then she frowned.

"You need to watch where you're going, Ms. Granger. You could do serious injury to yourself and others," the professor said before moving around Hermione to leave. But Hermione didn't want her to leave.

"Um, Professor?"

McGonagall seemed a little unwilling to turn to face the Gryffindor girl, but she did it anyway, keeping her face as blank as possible.

"Yes?"

"Um… you wouldn't happen to know where Harry, Ron and Ginny are, do you?"

McGonagall quickly swallowed the sick feeling that spread through her at the question and her frown returned.

"No, I don't know, Ms. Granger."

"But you had Pig… Ron's owl," Hermione insisted. "At the beginning of the year, when you sent me my letter, you sent it with Ron's owl. And then Remus Lupin used Hedwig to tell me…" Here Hermione faltered, her eyes stinging with the pain that letter had brought. "Lupin told me to stop writing. No ever since the beginning of the summer everyone's been avoiding me and I would like to know what's going on. I just want to know if they're safe."

There it was again.

That same painful expression that had shown up on everyone's face who must have seen the Weasley's some time during the summer. That same painful expression that told her more than words could.

Something had gone horribly wrong this summer.

"What's going on?!" Hermione suddenly demanded, causing McGonagall to wince at the severity of the tone.

"Ms. Granger, please calm down."

"Where are they­-"

"Ms. Granger, I thought I told you to go to class," came the cold voice of Snape as he strode down the hallway towards them. He shot McGonagall a look before turning to Hermione. "Just because you are Head Girl, does not mean you have the freedom arrive to class whenever you like."

"Where are Harry, Ron and Ginny?" Hermione demanded.

"Ms. Granger-"

"Harry's in some misty place and you don't know where," she snapped angrily, causing both professors to pale. "And Hagrid _obviously_ knows what's going on because he isn't here! What's going on and why won't anyone tell me anything?"

"Ms. Granger, you need to calm down-"

"I'm tired of calming down! My best friends are missing and no one's telling me anything! Why are you lying to me?"

"No one is lying to you, Ms. Granger," Snape finally growled, annoyed by her outbursts. "Did it ever occur to you that Weasley and Potter were expelled?"

Suddenly everything froze.

_What?_

Expelled.

How could they be expelled?

Ron was allowed to use magic over the summer and granted, Harry had a temper, the Ministry wasn't about to let him go just because he did something stupid and irrational.

Which left only one other option.

They had done something unforgivable and inconceivable.

But Ron and Harry weren't like that. They wouldn't hurt people like that.

And what about Ginny?

"_Expelled?_"

"Ms. Granger you need to get to class," McGonagall suddenly said, looking unusually uncomfortable.

What was going on?"

"But-"

"Now, Ms. Granger. Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter have been expelled from Hogwarts and that is the end of this conversation," the professor said before turning on her heal and walking away. Professor Snape stared her down until she yielded unwillingly and turned to leave, her mind bombarded with unlikely ways in which Harry and Ron could have gotten themselves expelled.

And what about Ginny?

* * *

Luna looked up from where she was sitting by the tree and scooted over to make room for Neville, who lowered himself carefully down beside her, watching her face carefully.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine, Neville," she whispered dully. "I just need some time to get used to her. You don't have to be so tense."

"I know… it's just hard. Hermione's smart. She'll figure it out."

Luna sniffed and leaned into his shoulder, shaking her head.

"No one would think of it, Neville. Not even the Death Eaters know."

"Yeah…"

"She must feel very much alone," Luna muttered, glancing behind her at the looming castle.

"Very alone."

They both sighed and Luna sniffed again, trying to block the tears that were starting to come again.

"I still can't believe it though…"

"I know."

"How could he-"

"I don't want to think about it, Luna," Neville muttered, his teeth grinding together as she began to delve into their hellish summer. "_Please_, Luna. I… I just don't want to think about it-"

"So you're just going to forget about it?"

"No."

"Then what are you trying to do? Ignore the fact that it never happened?"

"_No_," Neville muttered through a clenched jaw. "We can't ignore it… and we can't keep ignoring Hermione…"

"I think she deserves to know."

"We can't. You know what Dumbledore says. The moment she finds out, _everyone_ finds out. She wasn't there, she doesn't have the training."

Luna closed her eyes and sighed.

"It won't take her long to figure out what's happened to Ron and Harry," she whispered, her breathing becoming more labored as the horrible memories suddenly bombarded her mercilessly. "And Ginny…"

Neville closed his eyes, trying to block her out, but no matter how much he tried, he knew the truth to her words. He knew that it was up to them to calm Hermione down before she lost it and took matters into her own hands.

"Alienating Hermione isn't going to help," Luna continued. "We should at least try."

"No matter how unbearable it is?"

"No matter how unbearable it is."

**A/N: A much longer chapter in which _a lot_ gets put out there.**

**tamara72:** I'm sure you weren't counting on it being this soon, but here you go!

**Sorry, no chapter tease. You don't really need one.**


	7. Vertigo

**A/N: Please don't hit the screen when you read this. I know some of you are already upset by the goings on in this story and I don't want you to get angry and hit something once you read this. **

_False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil._ **-Plato**

* * *

It was a week until Neville and Luna worked up the courage to finally speak to Hermione. That encounter nearly gave Hermione a heart attack.

She had been sitting in the library, trying to distract herself with her research when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She looked up and fell out of her chair in surprise.

"Shh!" Madame Pince hissed, glaring at Hermione before slinking off towards a couple of boys who were hunched over a large book.

"Luna," Hermione gasped. "Neville…. Um… hey."

Luna offered Hermione a weak smile and sat down beside her while Neville sat across from them, another half-smile on his pale features.

"Hello, Hermione. How are you?"

Hermione just stared at them for a while, contemplating where this new version of the two had come from. For the past week, she had seen them sulking around, keeping to themselves and whispering secretively to each other. Now they were talking to her.

"Um… I'm fine… how are you?"

"We're great," Luna said, her smile brightening, but it never really reached her sad eyes. "We were actually about to go to dinner and were wondering if you would like to join us?"

Once again, Hermione just stared at them, trying to figure out what had brought around this sudden change of heart. Her eyes flashed over to Neville, who had not said a thing since they had entered the library.

"Neville?" she asked, noticing his far away look. "Is something wrong?"

She caught the pointed look Luna threw at the boy and bit her lip. Neville straightened up and tried to smile again. This time it looked a little better than his first attempt, but not that much better.

"I'm fine, Hermione. Just hungry," he replied.

Hermione nodded slowly, biting her lip.

_It's now or never, Hermione,_ she told her self.

"Can I ask you two a question?"

When she was met with alarmed looks, she raised her hand to stop them.

"I'll only ask once and then I'll let it go… I just need to know…"

Neville met Luna's gaze and nodded.

"Sure. What is it, Hermione?"

She hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"Well… I was just wondering… did either of you see Ron, Ginny or Harry this summer?"

Luna paled a little, but shook her head.

"No, Hermione," she replied in her normal dream-like voice. "Neville spent the summer at my house. My father took him out creature hunting."

"Very fun," Neville lied miserably.

"Oh," Hermione muttered, knowing that she was being lied to. "Well… do you know how they got expelled?"

To this question, Neville flinched visibly and gulped.

"Expelled?"

Hermione nodded, watching them carefully.

"That's what Snape said. He told me that they got expelled… but Harry and Ron would never do anything so serious… and I know your father visits the Ministry, Luna, so I was hoping you would know something…. But I guess I was wrong," she finished lamely, looking down at the books on her desk. Luna sighed and placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"I'm sure they're fine, Hermione," she said with some difficulty. "Don't worry about it."

Hermione glanced over at Luna and noticed the pleading look in her eyes and nodded.

"Okay… let's go to dinner."

* * *

For the next few weeks, things went by agonizingly slow and with even more confusing conversations about Harry Potter's and the Weasley's disappearance. The expulsion rumor had spread quickly after Hermione's encounter with McGonagall and Snape, and now she was getting weird looks from several students who were curious to know what she knew. But Hermione let them down by repeatedly telling them that she had no idea what was going on and that the expulsions could not possibly be true.

Her relationship with Neville and Luna was still a tense one, since Neville was constantly trying not to be around Hermione as much as he could help it, while Luna was doing her best to be a good friend to the distressed Head Girl.

Surprisingly, Draco Malfoy had shown up eventually, appearing at breakfast one morning looking like he would rather not be there. He did not even make any comments about the absence of Harry and Ron. It seemed as if he had not even noticed that the Golden Trio was now down to a pathetic one.

One of the things that really made things harder for Hermione was when Gryffindor had to call for Quiddich tryouts. It was hard enough for Gryffindor to find some good players, but when they were forced to replace one of the best Seekers Hogwarts' had ever seen, things got difficult. Several people began bombarding Hermione with angry questions on the whereabouts of Harry Potter, thinking she was just holding out on them. For a few days, Hermione was not the favorite in Gryffindor Tower. To her surprise, Neville actually defended her periodically, telling them exactly where to go and how to get there.

That shut them up.

In the end, Cormac McLaggen became the new Keeper, Dean Thomas was the new Chaser and after literally a hundred tryouts, a fifth year girl by the name of Donna Rockwall got Seeker. She was not on the same level as Harry by any means, but she was fast and she beat the others, so they took her.

Now Hermione sat in Charms class beside Neville, watching in mild horror as Neville's fruit, instead of multiplying, ballooned to the size of a large dog and began secreting a very pungent rancid smell. It took Flitwick forever to get the smell out of the room.

"Practice!" the small professor squeaked as the students left that Thursday afternoon. Hermione patted Neville on the shoulder sympathetically.

"It's okay, Neville. At least yours didn't explode," she said hopefully, thinking of Goyle's shocked face when his banana burst, spraying him and neighboring students with green orange juice. "I still don't know how he got the orange juice out of that charm."

Neville tried to smile, but failed miserably.

"Yeah," he muttered. "And to make the day even worse, I have Transfiguration now."

Hermione glanced down at her watch and then looked down the hall.

"Well, all of my classes are done… I'll see you at dinner?"

Neville nodded silently, heading off with a bunch of Gryffindors who were moving towards the other classrooms. Hermione walked off towards her room, glancing out the windows occasionally to catch a glimpse of the forest as she passed through the corridors. She decided that once she got to her room, she would have to write to Curtis about her time at school. She was almost at her room when she noticed something at the gate of Hogwarts.

Three people were standing that the gate. One, Hermione recognized immediately to be Hagrid, while the other two were much smaller and in the fading light, harder to identify.

Not that she cared at that particular moment. She had been waiting for a long time to talk to Hagrid. He had been the only one she knew would tell her what was going on.

She finally recognized the other two when one of them moved to place a hand on Hagrid's large shoulder; she noticed a wisp of a long beard and frowned. Dumbledore was with him and soon she identified Remus Lupin. Being so far away didn't help her curiosity as she stared at them intently.

Dumbledore seemed to be welcoming Hagrid back while Remus seemed to be trying to head to the castle. Dumbledore stopped the man, shaking his head and raising a hand. Remus shook his head, pointing at the castle so aggressively that Hermione could tell that they were now arguing.

Why were they arguing?

Dumbledore looked like he was trying to explain something to Remus while Hagrid kept glancing over to the school nervously, like he was expecting the object of their conversation to pop up any moment.

Hermione frowned when she saw Lupin's shoulders sag in defeat while Dumbledore placed an arm around the man's shoulder. She could tell that Dumbledore was whispering because Hagrid looked like he was straining to hear something.

Finally, after shaking Hagrid and Dumbledore's hands, Lupin left the grounds, disappearing down the path towards Hogsmeade. Hagrid and Dumbledore walked back up to Hagrid's hut, where Hagrid once again began glancing up to the castle with a nervous look in his eyes. Dumbledore shook his head and Hagrid relaxed a little… but not much. He seemed very upset about something and no amount of persuasion from Dumbledore would help.

After a few minutes, Dumbledore left and Hagrid retreated into his hut, slamming the door shut and turning on the light.

Hermione bit her lip, debating on whether or not it would be the best idea to go down and see him in that moment. If he had been gone for so long, he must have been very far away, meaning he must be exhausted… but then again, Hermione was desperate to have _any_ information that this fact seemed only like a minor detail in her need for information.

Glancing around, she quickly made her way down to the entrance, being extra careful not to run into Dumbledore or any of the other professors she knew would be in on what ever was happening. She slipped out with a bunch of girls who were heading down to Herbology and broke away from them when she was certain she wasn't being watched. She ran as fast as she could with her bag down to Hagrid's hut and after catching a quick breath, she banged her fist against the door.

"Who is it?" Hagrid bellowed, sounding surprised by the knock. He must have thought no one knew he had arrived yet.

"Hagrid it's me! Hermione! Please let me in!" she called back, beating her fist against the door again. There was a crash of silverware and then a string of muttered profanities and other phrases Hermione couldn't really understand before the door was yanked open and Hagrid looked down at Hermione with a smile.

"'Ello, 'Ermione! Fancy seeing you here."

Hermione was surprised at what she saw upon closer look at him. There were scars all over his huge face, and his hands looked like someone had taken a knife to it. His clothes were filthier than normal and had unusual rips at the front and sides, like something had run a lawnmower up and down him. But the most disturbing thing was that he didn't seem to notice any of it. Not even the enormous black eye that was oozing a greenish puss.

"Hagrid, what happened to you?" Hermione gasped, reaching up to touch his arm. "Are you okay?"

Granted, it was not as bad as what she had encountered in their fifth year, his appearance was still concerning.

He winced when he smiled.

"Jus' had a nasty encounter with a hippogriff, 'Ermione. Nothin' to worry about," he said. He seemed to be waiting for her to leave. Hermione was not going to.

"Can I come in? I've been worried about you and I need to speak to you," she whispered.

"'Ermione-"

"_Please_, Hagrid," Hermione pleaded. "I've been alone since the beginning of summer and I really need to talk to someone. Please."

Hagrid glanced over at the looming castle before stepping out of the way and allowing Hermione in. She sat down and waited impatiently as he cleaned up the glass he had dropped. As he moved around the hut, Hermione noticed that one thing was missing.

"Where's Fang?"

_Crash_!

Hermione jumped when Hagrid dropped a tea cup, and her eyes narrowed when he began muttering to himself. This was going too far.

For over three months she had been kept in the dark by obvious lies and upsetting motions, but she had had enough. She was not about to let this go on any further until she found out what had happened to Harry, Ron and Ginny.

"Hagrid, tell me what's going on!" she snapped, causing the large gamekeeper to whirl around, which shook the hut. She stood up, tears welling up in her eyes. "Where are they, Hagrid? Please, tell me where they are?"

"'Ermione…" he looked like he wanted to tell her the truth, but instead he shook his head, frowning at her. "All I know is that they were expelled."

Hermione flared up, the angry tears finally spilling out down her cheeks.

"Stop lying to me! Ron, Harry and Ginny would never do something so _stupid_!" she said, causing him to flinch. "Where have you been, Hagrid?"

"'Ermione, I've just been a bit busy doing some stuff for Dumbledore, you know. I don't know anything."

She wiped at her tears, glaring at the ground.

"So you haven't seen them at all?"

"Not since June."

"Hagrid-"

"Ms. Granger, you always seem to be in places where you're not supposed to be," came the familiar drawl of Severus Snape. Hagrid flinched at the tone while Hermione turned to see the professor standing at the door, eyes on Hagrid.

"Severus," Hagrid muttered. "Albus said you'd come."

"Yet you invited company," Snape replied expressionlessly, his dark eyes moving to Hermione, who was wiping away the rest of her tears. "And managed to make her cry."

"Professor-" Hermione started, but he held up a hand, pointing out the door.

"Ms. Granger, this is the last time I am going to tell you to go away. The next time, I'll give you detention and I'm quite sure Head Girl isn't allowed to have that on her seventh year record, no matter _how_ smart she is," he hissed, causing her to shrink back.

Hermione glanced over her shoulder at Hagrid, who looked half relieved and half angry at Snape's arrival. When he didn't say anything to defend her, she sighed and walked to the door.

"I'll see you later, Hagrid?" she asked hopefully.

Hagrid blinked and then tried to smile encouragingly at her.

"Sure 'Ermione. Come down any time," he said. Hermione glanced up at Snape before leaving. The door slammed behind her and she heard Snape mutter something under his breath, letting her know that she would never be able to hear anything out of the hut. Biting her lip, she hitched up her bag and walked slowly back to the castle through the dark. She hadn't realized that it was starting to get dark quickly and had to remind herself in the future to visit Hagrid earlier. She didn't want to be outside of the castle at night.

Her mind wandered painfully back to Hagrid.

His appearance and odd behavior told her clearly that he knew just as much as everyone else did. He had been so guilty and it almost looked like he actually _wanted_ to tell her what was happening, but he couldn't.

What was so bad that Hermione was being kept in the dark?

"Hermione, there you are!"

Hermione had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't realized that she had made it back to the castle and had walked into the Great Hall. Lavender was waving her over, which gave her an uneasy feeling until she saw that Neville was sitting with them. Trying to smile, she walked over to them and sat down beside Neville.

"Have you heard, Hermione? Hagrid's back," Dean told her with a bit of happiness in his voice. Though Hagrid wasn't exactly the best teacher in the world, he still had a special place in many people's hearts, mainly the Gryffindors. Hermione tried to act surprised by the information, knowing that she wasn't supposed to have seen his arrival in the first place. She glanced over at Neville, who seemed lost in his own world as he stared down at his dinner.

"Hermione, have you been crying?"

Everyone looked up when Lavender all but screamed out the question, startling a few people near by. When Hermione looked confused, Parvati pointed to her own eyes as examples.

"Your eyes are all red," she explained. Hermione's eyes widened as her hands came up to rub her burning eyes.

"Oh… I… I sniffed some spoiling gurdy root," she muttered, taking a deep breath to calm herself down. "Peeves shoved it in my face."

"Oh."

That was all they said before they began speculating as to why Hagrid had been away for such a long time. She quickly found herself tuning them out as she played around with her food.

"Do you really think that they're dating?"

Hermione looked up at this sudden change in topic.

"Who's dating who?" Neville asked, also thankful for a reason to think about anything else than Hagrid's arrival. Parvati grinned, thankful for some attention.

"Well, from what I heard, Snape and that new professor, Warner, are very close," she told them excitedly, inclining her head to the head table, where Snape had just arrived. He sat down between Dumbledore and Warner. After saying something brief to Dumbledore, he turned his attention to the dark, beautiful professor, who seemed eager to speak to him as well. They whispered to each other in a secretive manner.

"They seem close," Seamus commented.

"I think they look like they're arguing," Lavender added.

"Or they could just be discussing something about school," Hermione muttered, remembering the first week of school and the conversation the two had had when they thought they were alone. It was obvious to her that the two were close, but something told her that they, Snape especially, would prefer if that aspect of their relationship was kept behind closed doors, so to speak.

"_Or_ the could be arguing," Lavender countered in a slightly annoyed fashion. "Probably got into a fight or something."

"You don't know that," Hermione said heatedly.

Lavender fixed Hermione with a rather scathing look.

"Look Hermione, just because they're not screaming and throwing tantrums like you and Ron, does _not_ mean that they aren't arguing," she snapped rudely.

Bad idea.

Hermione's eyes immediately filled with tears and before anyone could say anything, she got up and left the Hall quickly. Neville got up and went after her, Luna following closely behind. Seamus shot a dark look at Lavender, who looked thoroughly ashamed of herself.

"That was nice, Lavender. Very tactful."

* * *

"Hermione?"

She looked up from her place on the stairs to see Neville and Luna come around the corner. When they saw her sitting on the cold stairwell, they slowed down and stopped right in front of her.

"Are you okay?" Luna asked carefully, her own face not looking much better than Hermione's.

Hermione sniffed, rubbing her eyes and sighing.

"I'm fine," she muttered. "Just a little emotional, that's all. It's been a hard day."

"Hermione-"

"I'm fine, really," Hermione said, cutting Neville off before he could say another word. "I… I guess I'm going to have to accept the fact that… they were _expelled_._"_ She spat the word out like a bad taste before burying her face in her arms.

Neville and Luna were at a loss for words. They had thought that Hermione would try harder than that.

"Hermione, did you go see Hagrid?" Luna asked carefully.

"Yes," Hermione mumbled into her arms.

"What did he say?"

"The same bloody thing everyone else around here is saying," she growled through her robes, shocking the two with her language. "The same bloody lie that's being told around this school with the same bloody reaction everyone I thought I knew has been giving me since I arrived here!" she snapped. "Quite frankly, I'm starting to think that you all went to the same prep class."

Their reactions were all she needed to prove her point. They winced at the harshness and truthfulness at her words, but said absolutely nothing to defend themselves. This only irritated Hermione.

"Why don't you two just give up on the charades and just go back to _actually_ being miserable, instead of making yourselves miserable with all of this _lying_," she said, glaring at the both of them. "Why don't all of you just leave me _alone_? I don't need constant reminders to tell me that I'm being lied to and I'm not stupid enough to believe that Harry, Ron _and_ Ginny did something bad enough to get themselves expelled, which means that Dumbledore knows about what's going on. I _also_ know that _Hagrid_ has some basic idea of where those three are and that everyone else, primarily you two, McGonagall, Snape and Warner, are keeping me out of the loop by trying to be _nice_, or in Snape's case, more tolerable than usual. Stop treating me like a child! I understand that something bad has happened and I understand that you aren't telling me for my own good, but just answer one question."

"What?" Neville could not help but ask.

"How can you live with yourselves while you sit there and pretend as if everything is alright?" she asked with a glare before she got up and marched off up the stairs, more tears falling from her eyes.

Tears came to Luna's eyes when she heard a sob escape Hermione's lips before her footsteps died off. The Ravenclaw breathed in sharply before she turned and walked quickly off to her common room. Neville just stood there, hurting more than ever and wishing he were dead.

Hermione was right.

How _could_ they live with themselves?

**A/N: Okay, I know some of you are going "What the hell?! Why are you doing this? Why is Hagrid such an idiot and why are Luna and Neville acting so wierd? What's going on? But I must tell you to refrain from guessing because I _really_ don't want to ruin it for people if one of your guesses happens to be right. Don't worry though. Things will reveal itself in the next couple of chapters. Please be patient with me. I know this is an unusual way for me to start a story, but trust me it won't be all talking the next chapter. Things really start to get interesting at Hogwarts.**

**MyMadness:** Believe me, you'll love the next chapter.

**Rumpleteaze:** I know, I know. I've given all these clues that lead to absolutely nothing, but don't worry. You'll find out what's going on soon, trust me.

**ThEnAmEsGiGi:** Oh believe me, until around chapter 9 (hint, hint) I was very unsure of _what_ I was going to be explaining. I knew you guys deserved an answer and I knew HErmione was desperate for one, but I couldn't really think of one that would... fill in _some_ of the gaps. I'll just tell you this, be glad I waited this long to tell you, because if I had done it sooner, things would have been... different? This story would have gone in a very different direction. I like the direction it's going in now so please bare with me.

**jenny: **I don't want to say that Luna's his puppet... I just think that her mental state is just not together so he's stepping up. When is snape _not_ agrivating? :-) I love the new dada teacher also.

**ronandmion4ever:** Yeah, I don't want Hermione to turn into Harry and go completely insane from lack of contact with her friends. I just think that the fact that she's trying to remain sane is an example of her actually driving herself insane... if that makes sense? I'm not sure that you'll all be going "duh!" but I think you'll understand the behaviors of some of the people. As for them being reunited, I'm not saying anything about that. You'll just have to read and find out (That statement has no underlying meaning, btw) Just read and find out. Curtis I hope will appear again, but that all depends on what Hermione does.

**mgmve2008:** That will all be explained eventually, just wait patiently. :-)

**Wowww:** It's a lot more complicated than that and I don't think having HErmione going a-wall and going out to kill Voldemort herself will help things, but you'll understand when you get to that chapter... hopefully. I'm very sure that most of you will only be angrier, which is understandable, so I'm not going to get all defensive about it.

**Lina Ben:** Thank you.

**tamara72:** Most of those questions have already been answered because I am like soooo many chapters ahead of my updating schedule. Which means you can times this chapter by two and I've already written past that, so don't worry. All those questions whirling around in your head will eventually get answered.

**Chapter Tease:**

_"We don't know yet. Dumbledore's been in his office with McGonagall and the Minister all day."_

_"The Minister of Magic?"_

_"He was called when he got wind of what happened, Hermione," Neville answered. "The Ministry thinks that some of the students need to be expelled."_

**Not nearly as interesting as you might want it to be, but believe me, once you find out what's going on, you're going to laugh... or just be angrier... **

**:-)**


	8. Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall

_If you're going through hell, keep going_. **-Winston Churchill**

* * *

It was the day of the game and Slytherin was in the happiest mood they had ever been in before a game. No Harry Potter to keep them from catching the Snitch. No Weasleys to prevent them from making goals.

They were in heaven.

And they made sure that the Gryffindors knew how much they appreciated the absence of the three. At breakfast that morning, the Slytherins began singing a rousing song, thanking the Gryffindors for not having Saint Potter, Weasel King and Gryffindor's little Princess. They then went on to sing the horrid original version to "Weasley is Our King".

That morning was a nightmare for the Gryffindors, who could only sit there and know that this game would not end very well. Some were even shooting nasty glares at Hermione, as if it were still her fault that the three had not shown up, but she kept her head down to avoid any looks that were less than inviting.

"At least it's not raining," Dean muttered before glancing down the table at McLaggen, who was trying to give a pep talk to the two other Chasers. "McLaggen seems to be taking this whole thing in stride."

"Probably freaking out. Did you hear about what happened to Donna yesterday?" Parvati asked before answering it herself. "Cormac screamed at her for ten minutes straight because she caught the Snitch right before he could save some goal. Donna burst into tears and said she wasn't going to play today."

"She wasn't serious was she?" Seamus asked. Dean answered this one.

"She looked serious. Cursed his broom to buck every time he got on it," he said. "But I don't think she's brave enough not to show up. Gryffindor would have her arse for it."

Unfortunately for Dean, and perhaps all of Gryffindor, it did in fact start raining the moment Madame Hooch blew the whistle. Slytherins took a quick and easy lead after not only making it past every single Chaser to score, but by "accidentally" knocking Dean off of his broom. This caused some delay, but after a few minutes, a winded Dean was back on his broom, but this time he was much more cautious about who he flew near, making it harder for Gryffindor to get a goal.

"SEVENTY TO TEN, SLYTHERIN!" McGonagall's voice projected, making many Gryffindors in the stand groan.

"NINTY TO TEN!"

Some how after making a goal, Slytherin had managed to steal the Quaffle and make another goal.

"This is ridiculous," growled an angry boy right in front of where Hermione was standing. "If Weasley was here, there wouldn't be so many goals and Potter would have gotten the Snitch by now anyway."

"We would have more points on the board," his friend agreed wholeheartedly.

Hermione just tried to block them out, but that became harder to do the longer things were drawn out. More and more Gryffindors were starting to complain about the absence as Slytherins' score increased and theirs stayed right where it was. It would not be long before Malfoy found the Snitch in the storm and then the Gryffindors would be finished.

One boy even got desperate and threw something hard and shiny at a passing Slytherin chaser, knocking the stunned boy off of his broom.

If it were not for the separate House stands, a brawl would have started right then and there. The Slytherin stands opposite the Gryffindor ones were in an uproar, screaming profanities and making obscene hand gestures while the boy was led back to Hogwarts by a very angry McGonagall.

Things were getting ugly fast and that soon became apparent to the professors when a Slytherin beater, in response to the attack, struck a Quaffle right into the Gryffindor stands, injuring the boy and two small first year girls who were standing behind him. The Beater insisted that it was an accident and that the lightening that flashed every so often obscured his eyesight.

Madame Hooch had no choice but to let him play, which enraged many of the Gryffindors, who were also shouting across the field to the Slytherins.

Hermione could tell things were getting out of hand and hoped that it would not get violent. There were too many people in the stands and most of them did not know how to defend themselves.

However, it was too late for anything to be done. The moment McLaggen chucked the Quaffle at Malfoy, who had been zooming by chasing the Snitch, all hell broke loose.

In no time at all, Slytherin fans were up in the Gryffindor stands and vice versa. Fights ensued and instantly people were being pushed and shoved towards the railings. Three people fell while others tried to scamper out of the way. The Quiddich players dived into the melee, crashing into their opponents head first. The Beaters were wielding their bats around dangerously, smashing anyone who pulled out a wand.

Hermione had no interest in joining the brawl and scrambled to the back of the stand with several others who were trying to get out of the way. Unfortunately, as she tried to get to the back, she had accidentally shoved a Slytherin out of the way, forcing him to whirl around and attack her. He kicked her in the stomach and then punched her quickly in the face, causing her to collapse hard under the benches, bleeding from a cut on her face. Terrified people trampled over her, stepping frantically on her chest and legs. She was quite certain she heard a couple of cracks from her ribcage and a tear in her leg as someone much heavier than she fell right on top of her, shoving what little breath she had in her lungs out and suffocating her slowly as someone else crashed into the person on top of her. She tried to claw her way out, but the heavy person on top of her must have been unconscious because all she could feel was dead weight.

People screamed and cried in terror as flashes of light lit up the different stands. A couple more fell off out of the stands. But all of this Hermione could not see or hear because she was slowly losing consciousness, the unbelievable weight of the person on top of her crushing her with every second.

"ENOUGH!"

There was a quick flash of white light and suddenly everything stopped. It seemed as if the entire field had fallen under a silencing spell. Nothing moved and nothing made a sound. Though the weight on her did not increase, she still could not breathe and knew that soon she would pass out soon.

"I WOULD LIKE THE PROFESSORS TO GET THE SERIOUSLY INJURED STUDENTS FIRST!!"

Hermione heard someone enter the stands and begin to move around, but by the time that person got to the person on top of her, darkness engulfed Hermione.

* * *

"Hermione… I think she's waking up. Hermione?"

Hermione let out a groan, the voice much too loud for the condition she was currently in. Her head felt like it was going to explode and she could feel a very bad bruise forming on her stomach.

"It's okay, Hermione. You're in the hospital wing. Are you sure she's waking up?"

"Yeah, look. Her eyes are opening."

At first everything was very blurry, but as she blinked a few times, things became clearer and she began to see the faces that were staring down at her through concerned eyes. Neville and Luna were the closest she could see. But it did not take her long to focus on Parvati and Lavender hovering in the background.

_Probably trying to get some juicy information so that they can talk about it later_, she thought bitterly as she tried to sit up. She sucked in air quickly when pain shot up her spine from her sides and closed her eyes.

"Hermione, you shouldn't stress yourself. You broke five ribs, your arm and cracked your head. You need to rest," Luna whispered.

"What happened?" Hermione asked in a raspy voice, noticing the sling her arm was in. Luna handed her some water and she drank it willingly.

"Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape paralyzed the Gryffindor and Slytherin stands," Neville explained. Hermione noticed that he had a black eye and a few cuts on his face. "The professors took out all of the students who were really hurt. You were found under Goyle when Hagrid found you."

"Oh," Hermione muttered. That explained the weight. "Where is Hagrid?"

Luna frowned.

"We don't know. He sort of disappeared after he brought you up here. He was talking to Snape and then the two just left, like they were on a mission or something," she answered. Hermione nodded and took that time to look around the hospital wing. All of the beds were filled with moaning or unconscious students. "How bad is it?"

Neville snorted.

"Some were actually sent to Mungos," he told her. When her eyes widened, he pointed to a few of the beds. "Some of them were shoved out of the stands, Hermione. They had to be seen by a Healer quickly."

"Who's in trouble?"

Luna bit her lip and shrugged.

"We don't know yet. Dumbledore's been in his office with McGonagall and the Minister all day."

"The Minister of Magic?"

"He was called when he got wind of what happened, Hermione," Neville answered. "The Ministry thinks that some of the students need to be expelled."

"Expelled," Hermione repeated, the word having a much harsher meaning. She touched her head tenderly before sighing and leaning back in the pillow.

"Well, I suppose that we'll just have to wait and see," she muttered.

* * *

It took two days for the professors to figure out what to do with the students responsible for the Quiddich fight. The Gryffindor boy who had thrown the shiny object, the Slytherin Beater and McLaggen had been expelled. That Monday, the remaining students that had been released from the Hospital Wing sat in silence at breakfast, watching with fear as Dumbledore stood up and walked over to the podium.

"I would like to say that I'm sorry for the way things turned out for the Quiddich game. It is such a shame that many of you were injured," he said. "Now… as for the two Houses that initiated the fight… both Houses have been disqualified for the Cup. Those who fought and believe me, we know who you are, you are not allowed to visit Hogsmeade at any time and you will also stay here for the holidays. Though we cannot place all of you in detention, you will be doing extra work in each of your classes. Your professors have already been notified. Both Houses will now be under a strict curfew and anyone found outside after that time will be expelled immediately. Any student found fighting with another and _both_ students will be expelled without any investigation. There will be no second chances or any excuses made. Every student will go to their classes without any incidents and there will be no questions about it. We are living in a dangerous age and Voldemort is looking for weaknesses. Hogwarts will not be a place of weaknesses!"

Dumbledore seemed angry as he finished his speech and sat back down heavily in his seat. McGonagall placed a worried hand on his arm but he waved her off, taking a sip from his goblet.

Hermione turned to the others, a frown on her face.

"I suppose it's better than getting everyone expelled," she whispered. Dean nodded slowly, touching the side of his head where a Beater's bat had hit him. It was still a bit tender.

"Yeah," he muttered. "And all of this because of three people."

Despite the pain of the comment, Hermione could not help but smile as she thought of what Ron would say about the comment.

"I'm sure Ron would love that. He'd probably say something about it being nice to know that you're loved," she told them causing many of them to laugh while Neville just winced.

"I suppose we'll have to do well without Quiddich then," Seamus added.

Soon they all got into talking about several different things. Hermione sighed and looked down at her arm in her sling.

Were Ron, Harry and Ginny in any trouble? Were they hurt like her or worse?

In the corner of her eye, she noticed the spot where Hagrid should be sitting empty. He had been missing since the brawl and no one had seen him since.

Where was Hagrid?

"Hermione, are you listening?"

Hermione looked up from picking at her food to see Parvati staring at her, looking a little annoyed at her lack of audience. Hermione tried to smile.

"Oh yes… I'm sorry. I was just a little distracted," she apologized. Parvati frowned, but said nothing about it as she turned back to Lavender, Seamus, Dean and Neville, talking animatedly about the upcoming Hogsmeade trip. Hermione sighed and tried to listen.

"Oh sure," she muttered. "It should be fun."

**A/N: It probably wasn't what you were expecting, but I decided to show that not only Hermione was having issues with the whole disappearance thing. Hope you enjoyed it!**

**charma10:** I was starting to wonder where you were! I'm glad you decided to review!

**ThEnAmEsGiGi:** Well, thankfully for you, you don't have to wait much longer. Just go click the next button!

**Ahhhhh!:** Those stories are rather boring, but I can't promise you that she _wont_ jump into his arms eventually, if she ever does see him again.

**LadyInWriting:** Well your wait is over!

**nextbestthing:** I don't particularly like him too much either, but I'm sure you'll give him a break once you find out what's really going on.

**On to the next chapter!**


	9. Truth be Told

_Pain is real when you get other people to believe in it. If no one believes in it but you, your pain is madness or hysteria._

**-Naomi Wolf**

* * *

It was now November and Hermione had completely given up on all proper company. She had secluded herself to the library or her private dormitory, consuming herself with her studies and work.

She had spent a few weeks trying to find out more information on the whereabouts of Harry, Ron and Ginny, but only ended up with the exact same results. Now she just accepted the lies and tried not to think about the truth. Knowing the reactions she had gotten from the beginning of the year, the truth was too hard to believe.

Hagrid was one person who got on her nerves the most. Just when he seemed ready to tell her the truth, he would make up some excuse to either get away from her or Severus Snape would somehow find a way to interrupt him. He would also disappear for a week at a time with no reason, giving Hermione a very clear reason to believe that he was not just doing something for Dumbledore.

Hermione was now in her Charms class, lazily flicking her wand at the plants on the wall and causing them to disappear. Flitwick had already come around to her, amazed by her form, and was trying to find others who could perform the charm as well as she could. So far, he came up empty.

"Don't you think that it's weird? I mean, they're starting to recruit others now?"

Hermione perked her head up when she heard this and leaned to her right to hear the rest of the conversation.

"Well, You-Know-Who needs more people right? So it makes sense to be doing it."

"But why now? He's been attacking people all year and then suddenly he goes all cold turkey to recruit more? It doesn't make sense."

"Well, how is anything You-Know-Who does sensible? He's a prick."

"You think this has something to do with the disappearance of Potter?"

"Maybe. Where do you think he is?"

"I don't know. I was reading the Prophet and they were saying that people are seeing him _everywhere_. Not just here in London either."

Hermione was going to ask where else, because she had not been reading the Prophet, but Flitwick interrupted them.

"You two need to practice instead of talk."

Hermione sighed and stared down at her hands.

The class ended soon and Hermione left quickly, not wanting to talk to anyone. She walked down to her Potions class and sat down beside Neville. He gave her a wane smile but she chose not to return the gesture. Instead she went straight to working on her potion, which was still brewing in the cauldron.

"Hermione, can I talk to you?" Neville asked.

"Sure."

"Are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?" he asked.

Hermione frowned.

"Neville, you know I don't go to Hogsmeade," she whispered.

"I know, but I was just wondering-"

"Neville, I really don't want to talk about this."

That ended the conversation. Though Snape's sudden presence at their table helped. He glanced into Hermione's cauldron then into Neville's. He sniffed Neville's and his nose wrinkled with disgust.

"Three cloves of Fluffer root, Longbottom. Not five," he said before turning on his heel and heading over to Goyle and Malfoy. There was a brief lull until a large Slytherin boy came barging into the room and marched straight over to Snape. The boy whispered something urgently to the Potions Master and for a moment Snape's eyes traveled over to Hermione. He then left the room in such a rush that he actually knocked over Pansy Parkinson's cauldron, spilling the acidic liquid all over the floor. He did not stop, however, to say anything, but literally flew out without a word.

"What the bloody hell was that all about?" Pansy cried, watching as her potion began to burn through the floor. Hermione's interest was peaked and she could no longer fight the urge to really get to the bottom of what was going on. If this cost her Head Girl's badge, then so be it. She needed to know what was going on.

"Where are you going, Granger?" Malfoy sneered.

"Clean that up," she snapped, pointing to the spill as she hurried out the door. She caught sight of Snape's billowing black robes and went after him at a reasonable distance, following him all the way up to Dumbledore's office. She stopped just down the hall from the office and watched as he disappeared up the stairs, followed closely by Tonks and Remus. Hermione frowned when she also saw Alastor Moody go up to Dumbledore's office with Hagrid. But the thing that really made her gasp was when she saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley appear from around the corner and go to the office.

"The Weasleys," she murmured as Fred and George popped up shortly after, their faces unusually bleak. Her DADA teacher, Warner, appeared not far behind them. When no one else showed up, Hermione ran over to the office stairs and quickly went up them before they disappeared. When she made it to the top, she leaned into the door and tried to listen.

"Hagrid, tell us all again. What happened?"

"Voldemort's spreading his reaches, Albus. He's going through Europe with a fine tooth comb, searching for any Death Eater, troll or other magical creature who would give their services to him," came Hagrid's deep voice. "We don't know if he's gotten to the vampires yet, but it's only a matter of time."

"What does this have to do with any thing? We already know he's recruiting more people."

It sounded like Molly Weasley.

"The problem with this is that he's also searching for Harry," Dumbledore replied. "Voldemort figured out that we don't have him anymore. Since we can't contact Harry as often as we'd like to, Voldemort has the upper hand in this situation, which makes things very dangerous for all of us."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" she heard Lupin ask.

"We need to find information on his projected path of travel. We need to find out where he's headed and who he's planning to see," Dumbledore explained. "Harry and Ron need to be warned."

Hermione frowned.

_What about Ginny?_

There were several sniffs in the room and Hermione had a feeling someone was crying. Why would someone be crying?

"Molly, perhaps if you needed more time-"

"I'm fine Albus," Mrs. Weasley snapped, but at the same time a sob escaped her lips.

"Shh, we'll get through this, Molly," Mr. Weasley whispered.

This was too much.

Without another thought, Hermione shoved open the door and stumbled in, attracting the attention of everyone in the room. Her eyes immediately fell on Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Mrs. Weasley was sobbing in the corner silently and her husband was trying to comfort her. Fred and George were behind her, but instead of the normal comical expressions, their faces were contorted in pain. When she looked around, she could tell that some of them were uncomfortable with the situation while others looked just as unhappy.

"What's going on?" she demanded, forgetting who she was talking to.

"Hermione?" Mrs. Weasley gasped, standing up and stumbling back as if she had seen a ghost. "What…"

"What's going on?"

Snape stepped forward, a frown on his face.

"Ms. Granger, I told you that if you interrupted-"

"Severus, wait," Dumbledore whispered. "I think it's time she found out."

A look passed between the two and for a second, Snape's eyes flashed over to the Weasleys. Dumbledore shook his head slightly and Snape nodded.

"Found out what?" Hermione asked, a little panicked. "What's going on? Where are they?"

"Hermione, you need to calm down first," Remus whispered.

"I'M TIRED OF CALMING DOWN! I'M TIRED OF BEING LIED TO! I'M TIRED OF HAVING TO PRETEND THAT HARRY, RON AND GINNY HAVE BEEN EXPELLED WHEN I KNOW DAMN WELL THAT ISN'T THE CASE!" she screamed, hysterical now.

"They weren't expelled," Tonks said bleakly.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM?!"

"Hermione, you need to calm down!"

"Just tell her!" Mrs. Weasley screamed, tired of the back and forth. Hermione turned to her, seeing the pain in her eyes.

"Tell me what? What happened to them?"

When no one answered immediately, Hermione began to look at all of them, knowing something was very wrong.

"Please… someone please tell me what's wrong… please…"

No one said a thing.

"Tell me!"

"Ginny died!"

Hermione felt as if the crushing weight were around her again, suffocating the life out of her. She was hyperventilating within seconds as she dropped to her knees, unable to process the words that had come out of Mrs. Weasley's mouth.

She shook her head.

"No… no… that's… that's not possible…"

"Hermione-"

Hermione stood back up, glaring at Remus.

"THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE!" she screamed. "Ginny _cannot_ be dead."

"She is."

This cold statement came out of the mouth of Mrs. Weasley, who was staring at the ground with soulless eyes. It was then that the truth of the words hit her. That's when the tears began to pour down her face as she backed up into the door.

"How?" she sobbed.

Dumbledore closed his eyes painfully.

"It was an accident, Hermione," he whispered. "Ginny-"

Before he could finish, Hermione collapsed, unconscious and in too much pain to care about anything else.

**A/N: Okay, now you guys can all let it out. Scream. Cry. Hit the computer. Send nasty messages to me. You guys kept pushing to know what was going on, and now that you know, how do you feel about it? Do you feel happy?**

**I don't think so.**


	10. Moving Past the Past

_The pain of the mind is worse than the pain of the body_**.** **-Publilius Syrus

* * *

**

Hermione sat up from the couch in Dumbledore's office and closed her eyes, trying to ignore the eyes on her. The Weasleys had left already and the only ones left in the office were Remus, Tonks, McGonagall and Dumbledore.

"Hermione-"

"Why didn't anyone tell me?"

There was a momentary silence then Remus sat down next to her.

"You have to understand-"

Hermione's eyes opened and she looked at him.

"What is there to understand? You _lied_ to me. My best friend _died_ and you all kept it a secret from me for five months! How could you, Remus? How could you-"

"Would you let me explain what happened, or are you going to start yelling again?" he interrupted, anger in his eyes. She shot him a nasty look, but said nothing. Remus sighed, rubbing his face with both hands.

"Hermione… it happened three weeks after school ended," he whispered. "We were at Diagon Alley and there was… there was an attack."

"I heard about it."

"Yeah… well… Harry, Ron and Ginny were going to get their wands checked… Death Eaters started firing from everywhere, Hermione," he told her, a pained expression arriving on his face. "We didn't realize what had happened until… until they were gone…"

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked, tears starting to fill her eyes again. She wiped at them angrily. She was so exhausted by the tears and the overwhelming pain that she didn't want to feel it anymore.

"Harry was aiming for a Death Eater… but… Ginny… he didn't see her until…"

"Oh my God."

The truth.

The full and unadulterated truth.

And it was worse than she could have ever imagined… than she ever wanted to imagine…

"No," she whispered, standing up. "No. Harry wouldn't."

"He didn't know, Hermione-"

"NO!" she shrieked. "HARRY WOULDN'T DO THAT! HE WOULDN'T KILL… oh my God."

Hermione's knees buckled from under her and she sat down on the ground heavily, unaware of the pain that shot up her spine at the movement.

"No," she whispered through the tears. "How could he?"

"Hermione, he didn't know-"

"I don't care," she muttered. "I don't care if he didn't know! He shouldn't have fired that curse!"

"Hermione-"

"What about Ron?" Hermione asked suddenly, not wanting to hurt anymore. The thought of Harry Potter killing the woman he loved was unfathomable. How could such a thing be done? Harry wasn't a killer. Ginny… oh Ginny!

"Harry left the same day and Ron disappeared the day after, looking for him," Lupin whispered.

"And Ginny?"

"Dumbledore took her before her parents… she was in bad shape, Hermione-"

Hermione held up her hand and closed her eyes, the tears flowing faster and harder.

"Stop… please stop. I don't want to hear anymore. I can't…"

Tonks kneeled down beside Hermione, taking hold of her hands.

"Hermione, we couldn't tell you because the Death Eaters don't know that Ginny's… well… you know…"

"You could have-"

"You weren't there and to have told you any time after that would have given it away."

"Given it away? You make it sound like some sort of prize! Ginny's dead and you didn't tell me! You can't make excuses-"

"Hermione, be quiet!" Remus snapped. Hermione shot a vicious look at him, but said nothing. "Hermione, you have to understand. The letters were being intercepted. We couldn't tell you anything."

"And Neville and Luna."

"They were at Diagon Alley… we kept them at the Burrow for the rest of the summer. We trained them to block their minds so that they would not give away the secret," he told her. "We couldn't do the same with you because it was too risky. This information could get you killed."

"How could-"

"Ginny was our way of keeping Voldemort close to home. He knew about her relationship to Harry and we knew he'd stay here as long as he thought that relationship was still plausible. He'd use her to get to Harry. If he found out that Ginny had died, he'd leave to find something else… so we kept it a secret… but now it doesn't matter, because it seems even Voldemort can't wait that long. He's getting anxious."

Hermione sat there for a moment, trying to digest all of the information she had just been given. She felt sick to the core, yet she willed herself to keep it together for a few more minutes. Then she would ask to be excused, she would go down to her private room and then she would be able to break down. But not yet.

"So Harry and Ron…"

"I can't tell you that, Hermione."

"Remus-"

"I'm afraid that information is extremely classified, Hermione," Dumbledore finally spoke. "Not even Remus knows their location."

"But-"

"Hermione, they're safe. That's all you need to know."

"I want to go now."

"Hermione, I don't think that's a good-"

Hermione stood up suddenly, heading towards the door.

"The next person who tells me that they think they know what's best for me and I'll show them _exactly_ why they should have told me in the first place," she snarled before running out the door. She stumbled along the corridors, her vision blurred by hot tears. Images of Ginny's mangled body flooded her mind and consumed her as she made it to her room. She gasped the password and had barely made it through the door when she threw up. Falling to her knees, she threw up again, sobbing in between as reality finally caught up with her.

"NO!"

* * *

Hermione wandered around her bedroom for hours, eyes out of focus and tears rolling down her face.

She had spent the past hours trying to make sense of the words that had been spoken to her.

Ginny was dead…

And Harry…

"No," she whispered, stopping the thought. "He couldn't have… he wouldn't have…"

"_Harry was aiming for a Death Eater… but… Ginny… he didn't see her until…" _

"No… no," Hermione groaned, more tears falling down her cheeks. "No…"

Harry would never hurt her… he would never…

"NO!" Hermione screamed, clutching her head in pain.

This could not be happening…

She could not be dead…

He could not have…

"Oh my God," she sobbed, falling to her knees. "Oh Ginny…"

* * *

The silence in the Great Hall that greeted Hermione the day of the Hogsmeade trip three days later, made her think that everyone at school had found out about Ginny at first, but then she realized it was on account of the Minister of Magic, who was talking quietly with Dumbledore at the head table. Hermione sat down slowly at her table, ignoring the gazes of concern and confusion that had been shot her way from those around her. She had been missing for three days, locked in her room with her own grief and rage as she tried to rationalize everything that had been told to her.

It couldn't be rationalized.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Lavender asked.

The only one who did not say a word to her was Neville, who was staring down at his food with pain in his eyes.

_Good. I hope he's suffering just as much as I am_, Hermione thought bitterly, glaring at him before turning to her own food. Everyone caught the look and decided it was best not to say anything else about her disappearance. Apparently it was a touchy topic. So instead, Dean turned it to something a little more lighthearted.

"So, are you all going to Hogsmeade?" he asked.

Parvati nodded.

"This is going to be the last one before the holidays and I need to get something for my mother," she said. "Padma also wants to see if we can get tickets for that Weird Sister concert coming up."

Seamus glanced over at Hermione.

"Are you coming, Hermione?" he asked timidly.

At first it seemed as if she hadn't heard him. Then she looked up and tried to smile.

"I suppose… it'll help get my mind off of things," she added, causing Neville to flinch beside her and another look of pain flood his eyes. At that reaction, she smiled smugly and returned to her food. Again, no one said a thing. They weren't about to get on Hermione's bad side by asking questions.

"Great," Lavender said. "You can come with us."

Hermione nodded silently, shooting another rueful glare over at Neville who suddenly became pale, stood up and walked hastily out of the Great Hall. Hermione's narrowed eyes followed him until he was out of sight and then she turned to Lavender and gave her one of the biggest smiles they had ever seen.

"Should be fun."

* * *

Inside, Hermione's heart tore apart one more time.

As they walked through the snow down the streets of Hogsmeade, Hermione was very aware that she was being followed by Luna and Neville. Not that they were trying to hide it. They seemed very intent on trying to apologize to her, but she was going to have none of that. At least for now any way. Perhaps in a few months when she finally got over the fact that her best friend was dead. Perhaps then she would consider forgiving them.

Hermione stood idly by, not really paying attention as Lavender rattled on about how beautiful some dress robes in the shop window looked. Though Hermione disliked the girl, she would rather hang out with her than be by herself. She knew she probably wouldn't survive very long by herself. Especially in the weak state of mind she was in.

"Hermione, what do you think of the dress?"

Hermione jerked a little then turned to see Lavender pointing to the cloth in the window. Hermione bit her lip and shrugged.

"It's pretty," she offered. That was enough for Lavender. She went into the store and after fifteen minutes of arguing with the storekeeper over the price, she came out with a large bag and triumphant grin. "Piece of cake."

Hermione glanced across the street to where Luna and Neville were standing, glancing occasionally over at her. Biting her lip, she shivered and turned to the others.

"Let's go to the Three Broomsticks. It's starting to snow," she observed, watching as the white stuff began to fall from the grey sky.

They all agreed and headed off towards the building, laughing and glancing in windows on the way there. Soon they were sitting in a warm booth holding butterbeers and discussing their plans for the holidays. A snowstorm was brewing outside, so they knew they would have to head back to Hogwarts soon. Hermione ignored them as much as possible, too consumed by her own pain that she did not care about what the others had to say.

"What was that?"

Hermione looked up to see Seamus staring out the front door, frowning. Hermione turned around in her seat to try to see what he was looking at.

"I don't see anything, Seamus," Dean muttered. "What is it?"

Seamus seemed a little bemused but he shook his head.

"Nothing. I thought I saw a flash of green light… you know, like the killing curse," he muttered darkly, shuddering at the thought. "It was like déjà vu."

"Why would anyone-"

"WATCH OUT!"

There was a massive explosion that shook the entire building. They all turned to look out the door again to see screaming people running by, stumbling over each other in panic. There was a flash of green light and two people fell where they were.

"Oh my God!" Parvati shrieked before the windows and doors shattered with another blast. Soon everyone was screaming as they fell to the floor, covering their heads as the walls splintered and groaned under the attack.

"What's going on?!" Dean screamed over the string of explosions.

"Hogsmeade is being attacked!" Hermione screamed, crawling over to the door and leaning out. That's when she saw the dark figures running through the snow storm, firing off curses into the crowds of people who were screaming.

"HERMIONE!"

Someone slammed into her and they went tumbling into a snow bank, blowing a lot of the white stuff all over the place before she was able to turn around to see who it was.

"Neville," she gasped. He pulled her up to her feet and dragged her behind the building where Luna was waiting, wand at the ready.

"We need to get back to Hogwarts, fast!" she hissed, flinching at another explosion. "They're getting closer!"

Hermione pulled out her wand and moved over to where Luna was.

"How are we going to get out-"

_BOOM!_

"NOW!" Neville bellowed, shoving both girls in the direction of Hogwarts' gates. They ran threw the snowstorm, dodging curses and jumping behind buildings as more black robes popped up. They were gasping for air when they made it to the gates along with twenty other people.

"RUN! THEY'RE COMING!" a woman shrieked in terror, pointing down the path towards about twenty Death Eaters who were running up the hill. Luna grabbed Hermione's hand and the three of them made their way up the hill to the castle, fighting blindly threw the driving snow.

"'ERMIONE! NEVILLE! LUNA!"

Hermione's eyes widened when she saw Hagrid waving from his hut. They all scrambled over to the hut, desperate to get away from the oncoming death. Hagrid slammed the door behind them then began moving around his hut quickly.

"You three need to get out of here now," he said over his shoulder, shoving many different things into a large backpack. "The Death Eaters are after all three of you. Hermione especially. They found out about Ginny and they want you to get Harry back."

"Hagrid, what are you talking about?" Hermione gasped, still out of breath. They all screamed and ducked when two of the windows exploded.

"BASTARDS!" Hagrid roared, grabbing a chair and chucking out of the window. "CHILD KILLERS!"

"Hagrid! What's going on?!" Neville asked, sitting up against the wall and shoving the ruined window pane off of his leg. Hermione bent down beside him, holding him as he wrenched a large piece of wood out of his leg.

"You three need to get out of Hogwarts! You can't get caught!"

"Hagrid-"

"NO ARGUING!" He looked enraged now. He shoved a tea pot into Luna's hand. "This is a port key. Run to the end of the forest then use it!" _BANG!_ "When you get to your location, get to the train station and get out of this country!" _BOOM!_ "Once you're out, head to the Black­-"

_BOOM!_

The entire roof was blown off and debris fell everywhere. Hermione, Luna and Neville huddled in the corner until the dust cleared. Hagrid pushed the large back pack into Neville's hand, and a small round object into Hermione's hands.

"Guard this!" he growled.

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

"Skyfox egg," he answered before he grabbed all three of them and shoved them out the back door.

"LEAVE! NOW!" he bellowed before disappearing back into the ruined hut. Hermione was about to go after him, but Luna grabbed her coat and tugged her back.

"Hermione, we have to go! Come on!" she cried, following Neville into the Forbidden Forest. Hermione ran after them, trying to ignore the screams and explosions that sounded from behind them.

"This way!" Neville yelled over his shoulder, running through the underbrush and past the trees. Though the storm was not as bad in the forest, it was still very hard to keep an eye on the two ahead of her.

"Hermione, hurry up!" Luna screamed, clutching the teapot close to her chest as she struggled through the snow drifts.

_CRACK!_

Hermione stumbled and tripped, falling into the snow and crying out in pain as her knee smashed into a rock. The green egg landed gently in a snow bank.

"Neville!" Luna cried, turning around to get over to Hermione. Hermione looked behind her to see three Death Eaters running towards them fast. Luna and Neville grabbed her arm and helped her to her feet. Hermione reached out and snatched the egg as they went.

"Come on, Hermione! It's just over there!" Neville shouted, helping her along. There were three more explosions near by, but they made it to the clearing just beyond the woods, gasping for breath and hardly able to stand as the wind slammed into them. Luna held out the teapot and the other two grabbed it, holding onto it tightly.

"One! Two! Three-"

"ARG!" Neville and Hermione cried out when two of the Death Eaters slammed into them just as they were tugged at their navels.

**A/N: Ah yes, we get to it. The unexpected twist where everyone's like, "OMG! This is worse than I thought!" I know some of you might not like the explanation, but I'm sure some of you might think that that might not be the _whole_ explanation. Please don't be angry. It is. **

**So this is love:** I knew some people would expect some sort of death or serious injury thing, which is why I asked you not to guess. You all are too smart. I'm glad you like it!

**Ahhhhh!:** I know you're made at Ron, but I'm not quite sure when he's ever going to be in the story, so you might be waiting a long time before anything actually happens, if anything happens at all.

**nextbestthing:** I knew you knew it. You always seem to know it, which is why I didn't want you to say it. :-) As for the last couple of questions, I can't say.

**Blue Leah:** My cliffhangers are probably the only thing that I _really _pride myself on. Hope you enjoy!

**LadyInWriting:** Then this pill must have been even worse.

**OzDust:** Yeah, I think they would have told her if Percy had died. Ginny's more provacative, because of the Harry thing as you mentioned.

**Rumpleteaze:** She faints because I love to torture my readers. :-) (Laughs evilly)

**cha cha dancer:** It would be hard to be in HErmione's shoes all the time.

**mgmve2008:** Well, I figured that the readers had had enough of the suspense and that Hermione was bound to snap some time anyway, so I decided to have it done right after that fight, where things are made so obviously and painfully clear that something needs to be done.

**ThEnAmEsGiGi:** The Quiddich scene was the most fun I've had writing this story so far! I loved the scene.

**ronandmion4ever:** I have been really mean to Ginny haven't I? It's not because she's my least favorite character. To be honest, Harry is, but I think it's because, since she doesn't have much of a characterization in the books, I feel that I have to giver her more of focus in my stories. Just don't hurt yourself when you hit the desk.

**Wowww:** Yes, at least we know that... but now we don't know where three of them are!

**charma10:** You're not going to see Harry and Ron for a looooong time if at all.

**tamara72:** You'll just have to wait and see.

**Lina Ben:** It was really hard to write as well.

**Wesker888:** You still want to know more?

**Chapter Tease:**

_"There! There they are!"_

_Screams erupted when jets of light were fired through the muggles. _

_"Run!" Hermione yelled, picking up the speed as much as she could with her aching knee and Neville's dragging weight. He was starting to slow down, too weak to keep up. _

_"Come on, Neville," Luna cried, tears starting to run down her face. "We have to get to the train. It's leaving now!"_


	11. The Grand Escape

_If we survive danger it steels our courage more than anything else._ **-Reinhold Niebuhr

* * *

**Hermione was slammed into a wall when she got out of the portkey and cried out in agonizing pain as she fell to the soggy ground of rainy alleyway. Someone crashed into her and she sobbed when her knee was wrenched around. She tried to get away, but someone grabbed her coat, pulling her back.

"NO!" Hermione screamed, thrashing around insanely to get away.

"HERMIONE!"

There was a grunt and then the person released her. Someone else grabbed her arm and yanked her up to her feet.

"Hermione, come on! We have to get out of here!" Luna gasped, sloshing through large puddles to drag Hermione out of the alley. Neville was already on the street, eyes wide and searching for something. "Where are we?!"

There was a flash of light and they turned to see one of the Death Eaters getting to his feet, his wand pointed at them.

"Come on!" Neville bellowed, shoving the two of them towards what looked like a train station. For Hermione, it looked strangely familiar, but she could not worry about that right now. There was another flash of light and suddenly Neville fell to the ground behind them, screaming in pain. The side of his coat was seared off and there was a huge gash on his side. Hermione and Luna lunged down and hauled him up, scrambling frantically to get to the station. Unfortunately, there were no people outside due to the rain, so they had no way to deter the attack. There were three more flashes of light behind them before they stumbled into the surprisingly crowded train station. Several people glanced at them with concern, but otherwise they were ignored. Luna glanced out the glass doors to see their pursuers slowing down.

"They're not coming in," she whispered as they set Neville down in a chair. Hermione kneeled down in front of him, ignoring the pain in her own knee and placing her egg on the seat beside him before she took a closer look at the wound.

"That looks bad…"

"We need to get out of here," Neville gritted through the pain. His eyes were on the entrance doors. "They won't wait long."

Hermione looked over at Luna but found that she was gone.

"Luna!" she shouted, biting her lip when she noticed that more and more people were starting to notice them. That was something they did not need.

"Hermione, we need to leave," Neville gasped, groaning as he clutched his side. Hermione turned to see that the Death Eaters had entered the train station, wands drawn. That was when the horror of the situation dawned on her. They were no longer hiding. Which meant that they would attack.

"Come on!" Luna hissed, appearing at their side, holding up three tickets.

"Luna, where did you-"

Luna grabbed hold of Neville's arm and dragged him out of his seat.

"Hermione, now isn't the time to scold me on stealing," Luna growled, glancing back to see that the Death Eaters had spotted them through the crowd.

"There! There they are!"

Screams erupted when jets of light were fired through the muggles.

"Run!" Hermione yelled, picking up the speed as much as she could with her aching knee and Neville's dragging weight. He was starting to slow down, too weak to keep up.

"Come on, Neville," Luna cried, tears starting to run down her face. "We have to get to the train. It's leaving now!"

The wall beside them exploded and Luna fell. Neville and Hermione ran a few paces before looking back to see Luna struggling to her feet.

"GO! I'll catch up!" she screamed, clutching her head in pain. Neville looked like he wanted to go back to get her, but Hermione shoved him ahead.

"Go, Neville!" she shouted. They made it to the stairs going down to the platforms and practically tumbled down them. They crashed to the bottom just as the train began to pull off.

"Wait!" Hermione screamed, struggling to her feet and tugging on Neville, whose eyes were starting to close. "WAIT! Neville, please! We're almost there!"

The man who was supposed to be locking the doors at the back of the train actually jumped off the train and ran over to them.

"Are you two okay?"

"Please, we need to get on that train!" Hermione sobbed, trying desperately to drag Neville towards the moving train while trying to carefully hold the green egg in her arm. The man shook his head.

"I don't think so. He looks like he needs to get to the hospital," he said, trying to help Hermione.

There was a huge explosion from upstairs and Luna suddenly came flying down the stairs, crashing into the man and effectively knocking him out against a large pillar. Luna slowly came to her feet, bleeding from her head and arm. She hobbled over to Hermione and helped her drag a now unconscious Neville over to the train, which was now starting to pick up speed. Hermione placed her egg on the steps carefully before tossing the large backpack onto the small platform in the train. Hermione got on the train and Luna ran as fast as she could while trying to lift Neville up to Hermione. Hermione heaved him up and ended up collapsing on her back, Neville lying on top of her. Dead weight.

"Luna! Get on!" Hermione shouted over Neville.

"I'm up, don't-"

The back of the train shook with the impact of a curse. Luna leaned out of the train door in time to see one of the Death Eaters reach the bottom of the steps and fire off one more shot before he stopped suddenly and just watched, obviously upset by something.

"Luna, help me! He's bleeding everywhere," Hermione gasped, pulling herself out from under Neville and looking down the long corridor of compartments. If they were lucky enough, they would be able to find one that was empty.

* * *

Hermione exited the bathroom an hour later with wet clothes. She had spent the last twenty minutes trying to rid their clothes of blood so that they didn't look to bad when they arrived in Paris an hour from then. She clutched the clothes close to her as she hobbled along the tight hall. Her knee was still throbbing painfully, though it had stopped bleeding a while ago. She was pretty sure she had ripped or broken something, but she was not about to make a fuss about it. She was better off than Neville. Sighing, she moved along, glancing into different compartments to see families and business partners talking to each other and laughing at jokes. Biting her lip, she made her way to their compartment and opened it to see Luna kneeling down beside Neville on the ground, moping up the sweat on his head as he shivered on the long seat.

"How's he doing?" Hermione asked, hanging the wet clothes in miscellaneous places, hoping that they would dry before they reached Paris. Luna looked up and tried to smile.

"He's better, thanks to that gillyweed and thread Hagrid had in the bag," she said. "I was able to sew up the gash. But he really needs some blood replenishers and I could really use a wand."

"Anyone stop by?"

Luna shrugged, turning back to Neville.

"Some old couple stopped to ask what was wrong with him, but I just told him he didn't like being underwater for such a long time and was a little feverish."

"Oh," was all Hermione offered as she picked up the Skyfox egg from the opposite seat and sat down to watch Neville. "At least he'll make it."

Luna nodded.

"It was pretty bad…."

Hermione sighed, looking down at her watch and shivering unconsciously.

"We arrive in Paris in about an hour and a half, Luna and the Death Eaters know where we're heading," she whispered, glancing out the door to make sure no one was passing by. "What are we going to do when we arrive at the station? We kind of stick out with Neville."

Luna nodded quietly, thinking about it.

"Well, when I was looking for some blankets, I passed a school group. I'm sure they'll have some extra clothes for us to wear," she whispered.

"And our clothes?" Hermione asked, pointing up to the clothes she had spent a while trying to get the blood out of.

Luna pointed out the window.

"We'll toss them when we get to the station. People will get suspicious if we try to get rid of them on the train," Luna told her.

Hermione nodded.

"That's a good plan," she whispered, too tired to worry about anything else. Luna could not help but smile.

"I thought you were the one who came up with all of the good plans, Hermione."

Hermione sighed and leaned back, closing her eyes and clutching the egg closer to her.

"Well, I'm too exhausted to think of a plan. Besides, yours is actually better than mine."

"What was yours?"

"Hide away in some of the luggage in the baggage cart," Hermione mumbled, falling asleep.

Luna noticed and nudged her.

"Hermione, you need to stay awake. You're too tired to be woken up when we arrive and the two of us are going to have to help Neville. You can't sleep."

"Okay," Hermione mumbled, straightening and looking around the compartment to distract herself from the sleep. "Why don't you go wash those rags? I'll watch Neville."

Luna nodded, picking up the bloody rags and heading out the door.

"I'll be back in fifteen minutes."

"Okay," was all Luna heard before she shut the door behind her and headed off down the small hall.

"Um, excuse me?"

Luna jumped and turned around to see a young man, maybe in his mid twenties, standing there, watching her with some concern.

"Yes?" Luna asked.

"Are you three okay?"

Luna paled a little. She had hoped no one else had noticed them, but then again, it was hard not to notice when you were carrying bloody rags.

"It's okay," she said. "Just an accident that's all."

The man did not look satisfied by the answer. In fact, it looked to Luna as if he had a better idea of what was going on than she thought.

"If you're running away from someone, I can help."

Luna bit her lip, standing straighter at the inclination.

"We're fine," she stressed.

The man did not look convinced in the slightest so he dug in his coat pocket and pulled out a card.

"Here," he said, handing the card to her. "This is a hotel near the train station. It's not the most fashionable, but its okay if you're just looking for a place to rest and get your bearings. Tell the woman, Charlotte, at the front desk that Patrick Dunham sent you. She'll help you out in anyway that she possibly can. If you need money, transport, food, anything, just ask her and she'll give it to you. Don't hesitate to ask."

Luna was overwhelmed by this generosity. It was hard not to be suspicious.

"I'm sorry, I can't," she whispered, trying to hand back the card. "I don't know you-"

"But you're in trouble and you need a place to stay without drawing attention to yourselves. And by the looks of you, you don't have money or means to afford a place. You don't have to trust me, but I mean it when I say that I'm just trying to help. I've seen too many teenagers pass cross the Channel trying to escape someone or the other in Paris not to care…" he trailed off, noticing her uncomfortable glances towards approaching passengers. "Well, thanks for pointing me to the food cart. I'm _starving_. Cheerio!"

With that, he headed off in the direction he had come, waving nonchalantly over his shoulder back at her. Luna glanced down at the card in her hand, memorizing the street address and hotel name before she shoved it in her pocket and walked briskly to the bathroom, still aware of the bloody rags in her arms.

* * *

It was raining in Paris when they arrived at the station. A relief for Hermione and Luna. An inconvenience for others. After explaining to Hermione what the man, Dunham, had told her, Luna was finally able to convince Hermione that it was worth the risk. Luna had managed to snag some clothes for them to wear when they arrived at the station and it took them a while to get Neville's on because he was in so much pain. She had actually managed to find a wig in the bathroom while she had been cleaning the rags and decided to keep it.

Luna ended up wearing the long black wig with a light blue blazer and black pants. Hermione on the other hand, after much forceful convincing from both Neville and Luna, who knew they would never get out with Hermione's untamable brown hair, were forced to cut her hair. They found a lady on board with a pair of scissors and after convince the woman that Hermione was going to donate the hair to a charitable organization, she agreed to cut Hermione's hair to around the same length as Luna's. The lady then went as far as to temporarily straighten Hermione's hair so that it didn't look so much like an afro.

For the last few minutes on that train, Hermione was not happy at all. She grumbled and complained about her hair until Luna had to scream at her to get it together so that they could make it out of the train station alive.

"Come on, Neville," Hermione whispered, handing him the egg to hold while she hefted up the large backpack. Trying to avoid attention, they got off with a large group of teenagers who were excitedly babbling about what they would do once it stopped raining. "Try to keep up with them," she told the two.

Luna nodded, holding Neville's arm carefully away from him so that it didn't bump into his wound.

"Do you see anyone?" Neville mumbled drowsily. Luna glanced around quickly, catching sight of two dark figures in the corner of the platform, watching the people get off the train.

"To the left," Luna hissed. "I'm not sure if they're Death Eaters, but they don't look like fun."

Hermione quickly caught sight of them and they steered off in the opposite direction. Neville was having a hard time walking at the same speed as Luna and Hermione and they had to stop frequently behind pillars and telephone booths so that he could catch his breath.

"Are you okay, Neville?" Luna asked, concern evident in her eyes and voice.

"I'm fine… it hurts, that's all," he gasped. Hermione took the break as time to glance at a near by map of Paris. She found the train station and then tried to find the street the hotel was on.

"Luna, the hotel is only a block from here," she whispered. "All we have to do is walk quickly and we can make it there in about five minutes."

"But Neville-"

"Neville, do you think you'll be up to it?" Hermione asked, cutting Luna off.

Neville shrugged, clutching his side and taking a shallow breath.

"Maybe…"

Luna bit her lip, not wanting to push Neville any further than he was capable.

"I don't think-"

"Luna we have to go, now," Hermione suddenly hissed, grabbing Neville's arm and dragging him towards the door at a pace he was hardly able to keep up with. Luna glanced behind them and noticed that three more dark figures had arrived at the station. With that in mind, she also took hold of Neville's arm and helped lead him out of the station and into the shelter of the rain. "This way," Hermione said, pointing in the direction of the hotel they needed to get to. "Come on, Neville. It's not that far."

Luckily for them, people were more interested in getting out of the rain as quickly as possible rather than stopping to see what was wrong with the three injured teenagers, hobbling through the streets of Paris. With a little encouragement, Hermione and Luna managed to half-drag Neville to the small hotel where a stout young woman stood at the reception desk, jotting something down on a piece of paper. Luna and Hermione set Neville down on a chair before Luna stood up and headed over to the desk.

"I'll be right back," she whispered.

"Bonjour. Comment mai-je vous aider?" the woman asked in a lovely French accent when Luna approached. Luna frowned and shook her head.

"Not French. English," she said.

"Oh… Can I help you?" the lady asked in a less formal English accent.

Luna reached in her pocket and pulled out the card she had been given. She handed it to the woman.

"Patrick said you could help us," she said, pointing to Hermione and Neville. The woman, Charlotte, glanced down at the card and then her eyes widened.

"Oh, Patrick!" she gasped before quickly running around the desk and over to where Hermione and Neville were sitting. "Well, come on," she snapped, taking the large bag from Hermione. "We don't want you three seen if you aren't going to be staying here," she added, heading over to the elevator. "Hurry up before someone sees you."

Luna and Hermione helped Neville into the elevator before it closed. Charlotte turned to the three of them and her eyes narrowed.

"Are you the trouble or are you _in_ trouble?" she asked quickly.

"In trouble," Hermione answered, pointing to Neville's side. Charlotte's eyes widened and she nodded.

"I just need to know. Patrick accidently sent some delinquents over the last time and the room was _ruined_. Almost cost me my job," she muttered as the elevator doors opened. "Come on. It's down here." She hurried down the hallway to the last door and pulled out a key. She stepped to the side to let the three in.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Hermione asked as they set Neville down on the large couch in the middle of the very big suite.

Charlotte grinned, closing the door behind her and shaking her head.

"Of course not! Patrick's my brother and we've been doing this _forever_. It's actually how we came here to Paris," she said. Neville groaned and she frowned. "Is he hurt bad? I have a first aid downstairs and we actually have a doctor we call on in case it's really bad."

Neville buckled over on the couch, the wound bleeding again. Luna kneeled down beside him, trying to comfort him while Hermione nodded, scared.

"The doctor sounds like a good idea." Luna shot her a look and Hermione shrugged. "Well we can't exactly get _someone else_. It's the next best thing if Neville's going to make it."

Luna looked hesitant, but after Neville let out a cry of pain, she nodded, too pale and terrified to say a word. Charlotte left quickly while Hermione dug through Hagrid's backpack, trying to find anything that would help them.

"Neville, just hang in there for a few more minutes! Please," Luna whispered frantically, holding his hand as he curled up on the couch in pain. "Please don't die," she cried. "Please!"

Hermione paled at the thought of losing Neville and she quickly swallowed the images of Ginny. She had to worry about Neville right now. She would think about Ginny later.

It did not take long for the doctor to arrive. Though he was not able to close the wound, he had been able to clean it and wrap it in a very clean bandage that helped a lot. He also placed Neville under a lot of pain medication, so Neville was sleeping peacefully in the next room in a very warm bed.

After that, the doctor checked Hermione and Luna. Hermione's ankle and knee were sprained terribly and her entire left leg had a long gash down the side where the rock had hit it. The doctor was able to deal with all of them. Luna was easier. She had a very big concussion, a broken arm and two broken ribs which were taken care of faster than Hermione's gash.

With out asking questions, the doctor told them to get a lot of rest and then left, leaving the two girls to Charlotte, who looked very happy that they were not hurt even more.

"You three can stay as long as you need," she said. "Don't worry about the room also. Just order room service so that my boss doesn't see you. Patrick will pay for everything. There's another bed in that room," she explained, pointing to the room Neville was in. "And then this couch folds out into a bed. The bathroom is over there and if you guys need clothes, just tell me your sizes and preferences and I'll get right on it. It's been a while since I've been shopping and you three look like you left in kind of a rush. I'll try to be around most of the day, but from eleven to around two, I have classes. I'm sure Patrick will be in to check on you three so you don't have to worry…. I feel like I left something out… oh yeah! When you're ready to leave, just say the word and I'll stock you with money, food, a car and other supplies, but I doubt you guys are in any rush to get out. You need to rest a lot! Okay, well, I'll be downstairs if you need me. Just dial this number. It's the front desk. If I don't answer, just tell them that you're in need of maintenance and they'll send me up."

With all of that said, she waved goodbye and walked out of the door, sensing their need to be alone to talk. The moment the door closed, Hermione let out a sigh and rested her head on the back of the couch, tears rolling down her cheeks. Luna glanced around the room, finally taking in their surroundings.

"So we're in Paris."

It was such an innocent comment that Hermione could not help but laugh. That however, caused her head to hurt and though it was not as bad as Luna, it still made her feel bad.

"Yes, Luna," she muttered, her eyes closing slowly from the onset of terrible exhaustion. "We're in Paris."

Soon the two of them were sleeping on the couch, the only sound was that of their snoring and the rain beating against the windows. Outside, two dark figures past by the hotel, unaware of the three inside.

* * *

When Hermione first woke up, she panicked.

Where was she?

"Hermione?"

_Oh yeah_.

The attack.

Hagrid's hut.

The train ride to Paris.

Charlotte.

"Neville," Hermione murmured, opening her eyes carefully. Her leg was throbbing something horrible and the headache she had had last night seemed to be magnified by the light of the morning.

"What time is it?" she asked, noticing Luna standing in the corner, eating something from a tray on the counter.

"One-thirty."

"In the morning?"

"In the afternoon," Luna replied. "You've been sleeping for a long time. I didn't know you were so tired."

"Neither did I," Hermione muttered, sitting up painfully. She could feel the bruises on her back and she leaned back, raising her leg up so that it rested along the couch.

"Well, at least you're awake. I was starting to get a little lonely by myself," Luna said, surprising Hermione by the meaning of her words.

"Neville's still sleeping?" she asked, amazed. Luna nodded.

"With no sign of stopping. I was going to use the bed in that room, but he's been snoring so loudly that it's _impossible_."

Hermione smiled, thankful for Luna's humor. If it weren't for her, Hermione would probably be a sobbing mess. She then touched her head and winced painfully to find that her hair had indeed been hacked off. It was a lot shorter and though it was not sticking out as much as it used to, it was unfathomable for her to believe that the rest of her precious hair was stuck in a garbage can somewhere at a train station.

"What are you eating?" Hermione asked, trying to ignore the dark thoughts that were starting to boil up in her towards Neville and Luna.

Luna pointed to the large tray on the mini-kitchen counter.

"Charlotte had lunch sent up while she was at her classes," she explained.

"But isn't it Sunday?"

Luna shook her head.

"It's Monday. We slept all through Sunday."

"What?"

Luna smiled.

"I told you you've been sleeping for a long time."

"And Neville's _still_ asleep?"

Luna nodded, picking up a plate and limping over to the couch. She was careful not to touch Hermione's foot when she sat down, handing the sandwich and chips to Hermione.

"I think it's all of those pain medications that doctor gave him," she said a little bitterly. Hermione could tell that Luna would have preferred not to give him all of that muggle junk, but they had no other choice. A few more hours and Neville would have died.

Hermione began to eat while Luna rummaged through the back pack, pulling out different things.

"Hagrid never really told us where we needed to go," Luna commented, pulling out some rope.

"He said something about the Black," Hermione replied.

"The Black?"

"I don't know…"

"What about that egg?"

Hermione looked around and grabbed the small egg that was resting on the table. She held it up and frowned.

"It's going to hatch soon, I think," she said.

"How do you know?" Luna asked, reaching out to touch it.

"It's turned blue. Blue for magical creatures, usually indicates labor."

"Oh," Luna murmured. "Why would he give this to you?"

"Because he didn't want Voldemort to have it."

"Right… Neville told me about that." Hermione heard her sniff, but did not say anything about it.

"How are you feeling?"

Luna shrugged, touching her head gingerly.

"My head hurts a lot, but I'll heal. Not as bad as Neville," she muttered, wincing at the twinge of pain that shot through her arm. "How long do we have to stay here?"

"Until Neville's well enough to leave," Hermione answered.

"Okay."

**A/N: Well, at least their safe for now! Sort of...**

**sballLuvr5:** We'll see how far they get first.

**x-x-xCAROLANNEx-x-x:** I hope you love this one.

**DRAMIONE4EVA15:** Thanks.

**Blue Leah:** I'm about to give more twists and turns.

**nextbestthing:** It was the only reason I could think of also.

**Wesker888:** There's going to be more fighting, don't worry about that.

**Miri Potter:** Don't worry, I'm the one who wrote it.

**mrsronweasley2113:** Sorry about that. But it was the only computer with the word documents.

**ThEnAmEsGiGi:** I hope you weren't expecting this either or I'm just not doing a good job in the whole "shock and awe" sector. :-)

**mgmve2008:** Actually, to be honest, I have no idea of how this story is going to end yet and I'm not sure when you guys will be seeing Ron and Harry, if you do at all.

**tamara72:** I think right now, they're running on fear, so they don't have much time to discuss who lied to whom. Maybe later.

**charma10:** That would be a very depressing ending, even for me... I like it! (dont worry, i don't think that's going to happen). :-)

**Chapter Tease: (Minus a few details)**

_"I can't tell if she's still breathing," he cried over the pounding rain and rumbling thunder. "I can't tell!"_

_"She's alive!" Hermione gritted. "Just shut up! SHUT UP!"_

_"There's blood everywhere!" he roared back, as he grabbed Luna and pulled her to the back to get a better look at her. "I think she's dead!"_

_"SHUT UP!" Hermione screeched. "Damn it, Neville, she's not dead!"_


	12. The Long Dark Road

_The most destructive element in the human mind is fear. Fear creates aggressiveness._ **-Dorothy Thompson**

* * *

It was five more days of confinement before Neville was finally able to get up again. His wound had by no means healed, but the pain had died down enough for him to stand and move around. The doctor had no interest in trying to figure out what had happened to him. He did not want to get Neville into more trouble than he was already in.

Patrick stopped by often during this time, discussing with Hermione and Luna their plans once Neville was well enough to leave.

During one of these visits is when they figured out that they were headed for the Black Forest in Germany.

"That's a long way from here!" Hermione had exclaimed before she asked for a map. Charlotte arrived a few minutes later with a road map. They placed it on the table and crowded around it. Patrick pointed to a city in southwestern Germany.

"There," he said. "Baden Wurttemberg. It's the closest big city near the Black Forest. You'll head that way."

"No train?" Charlotte asked.

Patrick shook his head.

"The train will take you there, but if they're being followed, they can't necessarily abandon a train just like that. They'll be trapped. Driving will give them more alternatives, including taking a train if the time calls for it. I don't want to encourage stealing a car after jumping off of train when they're trying to avoid attention, Charlotte," he explained.

"We couldn't possibly take your car-"

Patrick shook his head.

"I won't hear another word of it. You'll take one of our cars. We can certainly afford another one," he said.

They had many other discussions like that, but after a couple more days and Hermione gave up on trying convincing them that they were better off without the car. Luna, surprisingly, could drive quite well and after a few practice tries in a very expensive looking Audi sedan, they decided that Luna would be the one to drive them to Baden.

The only thing that seemed to brighten the mood of the three was when the egg finally hatched. The small, furry little fox rolled out, squealing something awful as it tried to right itself with its wings. Hermione had been the one in the room at the time and therefore the creature immediately attached itself to her, begging her for food and crawling all over her, trying to get every bit of her attention.

Hermione called him Darcy.

Luckily, neither Patrick nor Charlotte noticed the creature.

Hermione looked up from playing with the baby skyfox one morning to see Luna and Neville come out of the bedroom, holding Hagrid's backpack. Hermione smiled before looking back down at Darcy.

"You're feeling better, Neville?" she asked casually.

Neville smiled as well and sat down next to her while Luna sat across from them, rummaging through the backpack.

"A little," he whispered, wincing slightly. "The stitches are holding."

Luna looked up.

"How's Dracy?" she asked.

Hermione's smile broadened.

"Oh he's wonderful," she said, rubbing the baby's belly. "He's hungry all the time though."

Neville reached out and scratched Darcy behind the ears. They were silent for a moment before Luna spoke.

"What do you think happened to Hogwarts?"

Hermione ran her hand across Darcy's soft fur.

"I'm sure Dumbledore fixed everything…" she whispered.

"It's been four days, Hermione…"

"That doesn't mean anything. They could still be alive… they could still be safe…" she retorted.

"Or Hogwarts could be gone," Luna replied realistically.

"You don't have to be so pessimistic," Hermione muttered.

"I'm trying to be realistic, Hermione. There were a lot of Death Eaters at Hogsmeade."

"Were there a lot at Diagon Alley?" Hermione asked before realizing just how bitter she had sounded. She felt Neville grow still beside her and remove his hand from the fox while the air around them suddenly became charged with sour tension. They all remained silent for a moment, not knowing what to say. Finally, Neville spoke.

"We wanted to tell you, Hermione…"

"Then why didn't you?"

"Because Dumbledore said-"

Hermione's eyes narrowed.

"Dumbledore says a lot of things, that's never really stopped us before."

"It wasn't safe!" Luna snapped.

"How wasn't it safe-"

"Voldemort was searching your mind, Hermione," Neville whispered, effectively shutting her up. "Remus told us that Voldemort was trying to get information out of you through your dreams, which is probably why you've been having bad dreams all summer. He said that if we told you, Voldemort would know before you could be trained to close your mind."

"So you kept me in the dark," Hermione muttered grimly, still not feeling so forgiving.

"Hermione, we never meant to-"

Hermione suddenly stood up, placing Darcy on the couch.

"I don't want to talk about this any more," she murmured before disappearing into the bedroom. Darcy's eyes had turned yellow a little as he started whimpering, sensing Hermione's pain.

"We should have told her sooner," Luna whispered, wiping tears from her own eyes. Neville winced as a sudden sharp pain shot up his side.

"It would have only made things worse," he replied.

"How?"

Neville met her gaze.

"Because then she'd be torturing herself for thinking that the whole thing was her fault and over Harry," he muttered. "And then she'd think something happened to Ron."

"But we don't know what's happening with them," Luna pointed out.

Neville shook his head.

"Trust me, Luna… it would have been worse…"

* * *

Neville, though still weak, was able to get around with acceptable speed so they decided that it would be time to leave. They had spent two weeks with Charlotte and Patrick and knew that it would be best to leave now before the Death Eaters decided to start checking muggle hotels.

On the night of their departure, (Patrick did not want Charlotte's boss seeing people leaving the suite), Charlotte packed them two bagfuls of food for the road and two first aid kits for Neville. Along with the bag Hagrid had given them, they had two extra duffle bags for clothes, which were packed in the trunk. There was another back pack that held a map, flashlight, French-English dictionary and German-English dictionary, four thousand euros and two guns, which Patrick promised would come in handy some time.

"They're not necessarily legal, so try not to get caught with them," he added as he helped Luna get Neville into the back seat of the car. Charlotte ran up with another small bag.

"Hermione, I think you should take these. It's some disguises for you. They might come in handy some time later," she said. Hermione nodded, putting the bag into the trunk before closing it and moving to the side door where Neville was sitting, taking deep breaths. Also in the back seat was Darcy, the baby skyfox, wrapped up in sheets so that he would not be seen by the muggles.

"You okay, Neville?" Hermione asked. Neville nodded and smiled.

"Fine, Hermione. Thanks so much for everything, Dunham," he added, shaking Patrick's hand.

"Don't mention it, Neville. I just hope you get better soon. I'm sorry our doctor couldn't help too much."

"He helped a lot," Neville replied truthfully. "I'm in a lot less pain."

Hermione gave Charlotte and Patrick hugs before getting into the car.

"Thank you!" Hermione called as Luna drove carefully out of the garage and into the main road. "BYE!"

Then they were gone into the night.

"How long is it going to take for us to get to Baden?" Neville asked from the backseat as he unwrapped the baby bundle and let Darcy out. The little fox squeaked at him and licked his face before scrambling over the passenger seat into Hermione's arms. Hermione held him in one hand while pulling out a map and laying it on her lap.

"Patrick said about five hours, depending on how fast Luna's driving, though he suggested you take it easy because of that broken arm," Hermione added, noticing that Luna's speed was picking up as they made their way through the bright city.

"I just want to get out of here. I've had this bad feeling like we've been watched for a couple of days," Luna muttered, entering a ramp that led to the highway. "Here we go."

The car purred into a steady acceleration as Luna gently pressed down on the gas. Neville muttered something about being crazy from the back seat and Hermione smiled, leaning back into her seat and holding Darcy closer, suddenly missing her cat, Crookshanks, very much.

"What do you think is going on at Hogwarts?" she asked again after a couple of minutes. They were all quiet for a while before Neville spoke.

"Dumbledore probably got things under control," he murmured.

"I doubt the Death Eaters got into the castle," Luna added through gritted teeth, gripping the wheel a little tighter than necessary. Hermione winced a little at her noticeable change of view.

"I suppose," Hermione muttered, watching as they passed by cars and cities, all illuminated by their lights and the darkness that surrounded them.

Neville yawned in the back and Luna snorted.

"Haven't you had enough sleep?"

"I'm still on that stuff," he grumbled from behind them. Hermione turned a little in her seat to see him.

"That _stuff_?" she asked incredulously.

Neville rolled his eyes and got comfortable in the seat, mumbling to himself under his breath about how he landed himself with two ornery young women.

"At least you're not stuck with Parvati and Lavender," Hermione pointed out.

Neville smiled as he closed his eyes to rest.

"True."

Darcy squeaked in unknowledgeable agreement, causing them all to laugh as they drove down the highway.

* * *

They had just entered Germany when Luna decided to stop for gas. They pulled into a station and Luna hopped out to fill up the car, but not before she grabbed a black-haired wig Charlotte had given them and put it on carefully. Darcy, who had fallen asleep in Hermione's arms, awoke to the noise and began to cry for food.

"Nosy blighter," Neville complained, waking up as well from his somewhat restful sleep. Hermione glanced behind her.

"Could you pass that bottle of milk Charlotte packed?"

Neville dug through the ice bucket and found the milk. He handed it to her along with a small plastic bowl and Hermione poured Darcy some milk, which he gratefully took.

"Where are we?" Neville asked.

Hermione sighed.

"We just got into Germany about twenty minutes ago. We're pretty close to the Forest now," she told him.

"What time is it?"

"Nine-thirty."

There was a temporary silence in which Hermione pulled down the sun visor to see herself in the mirror. She frowned when she saw how short her hair was and reached out to touch the air where her hair used to be.

"Hermione, you're still beautiful," Neville murmured from the back seat, pulling Hermione back to reality. Hermione glanced in the rearview mirror and offered a weak smile.

"Thanks Neville."

* * *

Luna leaned against the car and closed her eyes briefly to catch a little rest while the meter for the gas gradually went up. She was very tired, but knew she had to keep going for the sake of all of them.

She opened her eyes when she heard three other cars enter the gas station and glanced over at the other gas pump to see a small sports car pull up, a short unawares woman getting out and walking over to the gas station store. The other two vehicles made Luna's hair stand on end. Though they had not noticed her, she saw the four men get out of the first large black sports utility vehicle. The second was a small car. Two men got out of that one and they all went into the mart except one, who stayed to fill up both vehicles.

Luna glanced at her gas meter and noticed that it had stopped. Unfortunately, she had forgotten to pay ahead of time.

"Damn," she growled.

_Calm down, Luna. You're wearing a wig. They won't recognize you._

Biting her lip, she slowly made her way into the mart and over to the register where an old man was ringing up the sports car lady. He smiled at Luna when she gave him the money and told him the number of the pump.

"Ja," he muttered, putting the money in the cash register and taking out her change. Luna glanced around to see the Death Eaters coming over to the register, not looking too happy about being here. She grabbed her change and got out of the mart as quickly as possible, getting into the drivers seat and slamming the door shut behind her.

"Are you okay, Luna?" Neville asked, noticing her pale and trembling features.

"Death Eaters," Luna whispered, glancing behind her through the rear view mirror to see the Death Eaters exiting the mart. "We need to get out of here."

"Did they see you?" Neville asked.

"It doesn't matter, they've seen us now! GO!" Hermione screamed, noticing that one of the Death Eaters was starting to call the others, pointing to the small Audi in the gas station. "Luna, GO!"

Luna started the engine and floored the gas pedal, peeling out of the station as fast as she could. They sped down the highway, pushing one hundred quickly.

"Where are they?" Luna demanded, flooring the pedal. "Neville!"

"I can't see anything, Luna, you're going too fast!" Neville yelled back.

Darcy started squealing in terror as they tore up the highway, cowering in the back seat and trembling dreadfully. Hermione turned in her seat and tried to grab the poor creature, but as she did, she saw something that scared her. The large SUV that had been in the gas station was shooting up after them.

"Luna, they're catching up," she hissed, snatching Darcy out of the seat and holding him to her chest.

"Luna! That ramp! It's a wizard town!" Neville shouted suddenly, pointing to a ramp up ahead. Hermione's eye widened.

"That must be where Hagrid wanted us to go! Luna!"

"I'm on it!" Luna snapped, turning down the ramp. Soon she found herself shooting down a black road with no lights in sight. The Black Forest was now surrounding them as they shot up asphalt.

"It's starting to rain," Neville groaned, glancing out the windows.

"Where are they?" Luna demanded again.

Neville caught sight of the lights for only a moment before they disappeared.

"They turned their lights off!" he gasped.

"We can't! We'll hit something!"

"Then go faster!"

"We're pushing one ten already! We're going too fast!" Luna said, gripping the wheel desperately as the rain began to drive into the ground. "Any faster and we'll crash!"

Hermione tried to look out the window, but she could no longer see anything.

"This isn't good," she muttered. "This isn't good."

"Shut up," Luna growled, trying to concentrate on the road.

They all screamed when a jet of green light scraped the side of the car, shaking the entire car and causing it to swerve dangerously along the two lane road. Neville cried out in pain and Hermione turned around to see his clothes soaked in his own blood.

"Luna, he's bleeding," she cried, grabbing a bag and opening it to grab a first aid kit. She pulled out bandages and tried to press them to his side.

"ARG!"

Hermione pulled away as Neville buckled in pain, curling up in the back seat as the pain became worse again.

"Luna!"

"I'm going as fast as I can! I can't see a thing!"

Hermione could hear Darcy screeching somewhere in the back seat but tried to ignore him as she looked around for the supply bag Charlotte had given them.

_CREAK!_

"Oh my God!" Hermione cried, ducking as the windows shattered all around them. Luna screamed in pain and the car swerved again. Hermione looked over at her to see shards of glass in her arms and sides.

"I can't keep going, Hermione!" she gasped. Hermione could feel the pain of the glass in her own back and arms, but tried to ignore it as best as she could, too scared to bother with pain at that moment. Hermione looked around and found the supply bag. She reached in and pulled out one of the guns. Biting her lip, she leaned out of the window and began shooting wildly into the dark. That was when the lights of the two vehicles turned back on and nearly blinded her as the rain beat her. They were speeding down the winding road and as far as Hermione could tell, they were headed no where fast.

She fired the gun again, this time towards the lights in hopes of hitting something. The first four shots hit nothing, but the fifth and last bullet in the chamber struck something very important because a second later there was a flash of flames and the SUV began swerving all over the road, fire licking the windows. For a moment Hermione could see the faces of the occupants inside, eyes wide with shock. Then one of them flicked their wand and the fire went out, but that didn't help the busted engine. They started firing at Hermione and she fired right back, having no idea what she was hitting.

_SCREEE!_

Apparently she had struck the driver because the car made an abrupt left turn, hit the muddy bank at high speed, flipped in the air and came down crashing into a tree.

Shocked by what she had done, she pulled back into the car and tossed the gun into the back seat, trembling from pain and fear.

"Did you get them?" Neville gasped before groaning in unimaginable pain.

"Yes," Hermione whispered, trying to ignore Darcy's shrieks from the back.

"Good."

"Not good! DUCK!" Luna screamed right before something struck the roof. There was this unbelievably terrifying screech as metal ripped. The roof was blown clear off the car as it began to swerve madly around the road, moving swiftly towards the embankment. The wind and rain hit them head on, pushing them back as they suddenly began zooming forward, pushing one-thirty.

"Hermione! Luna!" Neville cried over the storm as they sped towards the trees. Hermione turned to see Luna slouched over the wheel, eyes closed and a deep gash running down her neck.

"LUNA!" Hermione screamed as she lunged for the girl. She scrambled over to the other side of the drivers seat and shoved Luna out of the chair and into the passenger seat. Just before they ran off the road, Hermione steered the car back onto the asphalt.

"Oh my God, is she dead?" Neville cried. "Is she dead?!"

"I don't know! I don't know!" Hermione sobbed as she tried to keep them on the road. Her leg was in excruciating pain as she drove down the dark road, unable to find any sign of life. "I can't see anything!"

"Is she dead?!"

"NEVILLE! GET THE OTHER GUN!" Hermione screamed at him. Despite the overwhelming pain that was coursing through him, he lunged for the bag with the gun, but the car threw him back when the bumper was blown off by a rather violent curse. Neville looked up through the rain and his eyes widened.

"THERE! HERMIONE! THERE!" Neville roared, pointing to the lights in the distance. They were blurry because of the rain, but they were there. "It's a town!"

The Death Eaters must have noticed it to because they started firing faster and with much more deadly curses, striking the asphalt and side of the car as the quickly got closer to the obviously small town.

"Almost there!" Hermione gasped before crying out in pain. The area of the car near the front tire her exploded, shoving the shell of the car inward and literally impaling her foot between the floor and the dashboard. Another piece of loose metal fell on her foot, pushing it further down on the gas. The pain that shot up her right leg just then was unfathomable. She screamed when she reached down to grab the metal, but it was fixed between the floor and the dashboard.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Neville demanded, flinching at the awesome crack of lightening that flashed and illuminated their path for a moment.

"I'm fine," she gasped, biting her lip until she tasted more blood, but he knew very well that she was anything from fine. Even with the rain he could see the blood running down her face and neck.

"Hermione-"

"WHERE ARE THEY?" Hermione roared suddenly, needing to know where the Death Eaters were.

"Hermione, they're not behind us anymore!" Neville yelled, watching the road they had just come from. "They're gone!"

Hermione was not about to worry about that. She had to get to that town quickly. They were all too badly injured to make it any farther… perhaps they were dying… she couldn't tell at that moment but she knew it was bad.

Neville leaned over the seats and tried to check Luna's pulse, but his hands were shaking too much and he was in too much pain to feel anything on her neck.

"I can't tell if she's still breathing," he cried over the pounding rain and rumbling thunder. "I can't tell!"

"She's alive!" Hermione gritted through the pain in both her legs. "Just shut up! SHUT UP!"

"There's blood everywhere!" he roared back, as he grabbed Luna and pulled her to the back of the destroyed car to get a better look at her. "I think she's dead!"

"SHUT UP!" Hermione screeched, letting out another sob as the car jerked around after hitting a large branch in the road. "Damn it, Neville, she's not dead!"

The moment she knew they were close enough, Hermione began blaring her horn, pounding the wheel with as much force as she could muster as they approached the town.

"PLEASE! SOMEONE!"

"Hermione, you need to slow down!" Neville shouted suddenly, noticing that Hermione's speed was actually increasing. The out-of-control car was pushing one forty quickly and Hermione's erratic swerving to avoid being hit on the wet asphalt was only making things fatally worse. "Hermione! SLOW DOWN!"

"I can't."

"What do you mean, you can't?! We're going to crash! SLOW DOWN!"

"I can't!" she cried. "My foot's stuck! I can't move it!"

Neville could see the terror in Hermione's eyes and realized the meaning of the statement. They were going to crash.

Ignoring every inch of pain that surged through his body like fire, he dragged himself to the front of the car and looked down at Hermione's right leg, which was stuck on the gas pedal between two pieces of sharp metal. Positioning himself so that his feet faced her leg, he gritted his teeth from the pain.

"This is going to hurt, Hermione!" he shouted before kicking out.

Hermione shrieked in agonizing pain as she felt her leg crack when the kick dislodged the bar from the dashboard, releasing her foot from the pedal. She let go of the steering wheel to grab her crushed leg and Neville lunged for the wheel. The car began to swerve around the road treacherously as they entered the small town.

"NEVILLE!" Hermione screamed, pointing to something ahead of them. But it was too late to do anything.

The Death Eater car had materialized in front of them, the Death Eaters pointing their wands at Neville and Hermione. Hermione froze in horror and Neville lunged for the wheel, yanking it to the right. The ruined car spun out of control, going around in circles on the wet floor before the front end smashed into the front of the other car and went flying. The sound of the crash was deafening as metal shattered like glass from the overwhelming speed at which the Audi had been traveling.

The next thing Hermione knew was that she was flying through the air from the somersaulting wreck of a car. She flew right into a pole and came crashing to the ground, painfully aware of the fact that her back was now broken. Sobs escaped her lips along with the blood that was starting to form at the back of her throat as she lay on the street in the rain. She could hear people coming out of various places, screaming for help and pointing at the destruction.

"Somebody help them!" she heard someone scream, but she didn't care who it was because in the corner of her eye she could see the Death Eater car. One of the men stumbled out of the car, in much better condition than Hermione, who was still sobbing and screaming on the ground, horrendous pain shooting through her entire body like acid. The man pulled out his wand, which happened to be lodged in his side and gasped from the pain.

"Get the hell back!" the man snarled, waving his wand around wildly at them. "I SAID GET BACK!" He fired off a curse that sent a shower of debris Hermione's way. She let out more sobs, throwing up blood as she did. The Death Eater caught sight of her and made his way over to her, eyes blazing.

"Couldn't keep running forever, you mudblood," he growled.

There was a flash of green light and then everything went black.

**A/N: Dun! Dun! DUN! **

**sballLuvr5:** We all wish Ron was there.

**mgmve2008:** I love Darcy!

**firefairy2917:** Well, then I'm assuming you secretly live in France and help teenagers to escape from England? :-)

**x-x-xCAROLANNEx-x-x:** I just wanted to give her even more reason to be mad at Harry and Ron if she ever does see them.

**DRAMIONE4EVA15:** Thanks.

**Wesker888:** Don't worry. Nothing sinister going on with _him_. Those Death Eaters on the other hand...

**OzDust:** I think we need to be worrying about all of them right now.

**nextbestthing:** I think they're all dying now.

**jenny:** Don't worry, we'll find out what happens to Hogwarts. Not in the next chapter, but perhaps in the chapter after that. I'll have to go and see if I can fit it in there somewhere. Maybe.

**tamara72:** Now you see how many details were missing.

**Chapter Tease:**

_The pain was gone. _

_That was the first thing she realized when her conscious mind finally switched back on. _

_Everything was still dark, but she realized later that it was only because her eyes were shut. _

_Was she dead?_


	13. Pain Means You're Alive

_Silence is the true friend that never betrays._** -Confucius**.

* * *

The pain was gone.

That was the first thing she realized when her conscious mind finally switched back on.

Everything was still dark, but she realized later that it was only because her eyes were shut.

Was she dead?

She tried to move but she was not able to. It was like something was holding down her arms and legs.

"Hermione… Hermione, are you awake?"

_What?_

The voice sounded strangely familiar… like hearing someone after you have not seen them in years…

This only distressed Hermione. She began to try to move again, but someone or something applied pressure to her shoulders, pushing her down into something soft.

"Hermione, you shouldn't move. You'll only hurt yourself. You have to stay perfectly still."

The voice… it was nervous about something…

Once again, she tried to move, pulling against whatever bonds were holding her in place. This time she felt a twinge of pain shoot up her leg and this only made her struggle harder.

They were hurting her. They were going to torture her!

"Hermione, you need to calm down. Hermione, listen to me!"

No… they were tricking her… hurting her…

"Hermione, you really need to calm down-"

"What's going on? Is she okay?"

Another voice she recognized… what was going on?

"You should probably leave… she's getting anxious…"

"Is she awake?"

"Ron, you need to get out! Being here now isn't helping her!"

_Ron?_

"What's wrong?"

"Ron, she's going into distress and Luna could go into distress as well. They need to be alone so that they can wake up fully! Get out!"

_Luna_.

"But-"

"NOW!"

Though they were only a few feet away from her, the voices seemed far away now. Like she was slipping back into unconsciousness… only this time, she could still feel the pain…

* * *

"Is she awake?"

"Ronald Weasley, how many times must I tell you to _get_ _out_?! They don't need to hear your voice right now!"

"But-"

"_Now!_"

She heard someone mutter something obscene before the door slammed shut. Then someone else began muttering to themselves about stupidity.

Then she faded out…

* * *

Someone was humming.

It was a soothing sound that brought Hermione back into her conscious mind. The tune was something very familiar, but at the time she could not necessarily place it.

She lay there for a while, just listening to the sound as that person moved around the room. She heard a door open.

"Hey, are they-"

"Look, I already told Ron that it was a bad idea for more than one person to be in here. You should go."

"Oh…"

"Now."

"Okay."

The door slammed shut and Hermione fell out of consciousness.

* * *

The pain had subsided after what seemed like an eternity to Hermione, but was actually only a week. While she was able to hear things more clearly, she had not yet spoken or opened her eyes; she was finally realizing her health situation. She was not yet able to decipher who else was in the room with her, helping her, but

"Hermione, I'm going to remove the bandages from your legs. You have to stay still, okay?"

There was no response given and so someone began placing pressure on her legs. She did not feel a thing as the bandages were removed and she remembered not to move so that the pain would not come back.

"Wow… Devlin really knows what he's doing. You look a lot better."

The voice sounded surprised to Hermione.

It must have been really bad.

"Okay, Hermione. This is going to sting a little, but you can't move or it'll just make things worse. You're healing really well."

Again, no response.

There was definite pain coming from her legs where someone pressed something to it. She wanted to move so badly. She wanted to stop the person, but she knew that would only cause more pain. So she remained perfectly still, trying to remove herself from the situation.

"Okay, okay, I'm done. I won't wrap them this time. Devlin says your legs need to air out after the third bandage change…"

The pressure was gone and she could hear the person move to the other side of the room.

"Okay, Luna. I'm going to take off your bandages. You shouldn't move."

"Okay."

This response startled Hermione into movement. A quick pain moved up her neck and a gasp escaped her lips. Instantly, the person moved back over to her and took hold of her hand.

"Hermione, are you okay?"

There was no more pain, but Hermione wanted to hear the voice again. Luna's voice.

"Hermione-"

"Luna."

There was a momentary silence before the person gripping her hand left and moved over to the other side of the room again.

"Luna, say something again."

"Why?"

Hermione moved again and another gasp left her.

"Because Hermione responds to your voice. It means there's no brain damage."

Of course she was not brain damaged. She could have told them that, but of course… then again she could not have because she couldn't speak at all. Just gasps and Luna's name. Which had hurt a lot to say.

"But it hurts."

_No kidding._

Another movement and more pain.

"I know, but the more you talk the less it will hurt, so it's good practice for you. And it'll help Hermione. I don't think she's realized who I am yet."

"How could she not?"

"Devlin said that she'll only really wake up when she starts to become used to her surroundings. She can't become used to her surroundings if she keeps hearing someone she hasn't heard in a while. It has to be a recent voice."

"Oh."

"Don't worry… your eyes are open so that helps. Her eyes are still sealed shut."

That ended the conversation and Hermione's grip on consciousness.

* * *

When Hermione finally opened her eyes, three things hit her at the same time.

It was too bright.

There was someone nearby.

Something smelt horrible.

Well, the last one she had figured out before she had opened her eyes, but she found out what smelled so bad when she opened them. In fact, it was the smell that had caused her to open her eyes in the first place.

There was a rotting onion right over her head.

"She's awake."

The onion was removed and Hermione finally saw the person she had been hearing for the last few days… or weeks… Hermione was unsure of which…

Tonks looked down at her with concerned brown eyes and a slight frown.

"Do you feel any pain?"

Hermione stared up at her for a moment before shaking her head slowly. Tonks smiled and carefully helped the girl into a sitting position.

"Well, don't move too much. You're still recovering and your organs can't be moved or they'll start bleeding again. But you're doing much better for the most part. A couple more days and you'll be as good as new."

Hermione nodded.

"I feel stiff," she rasped, her mouth dry and her tongue feeling swollen.

"That's okay. You're going to be feeling that way for a while, but it will get better," she whispered, handing the girl a glass of water before looking over at another bed. "Luna, why don't you come over here?"

There was a slight groan and then the creaking of wooden floorboards as someone crossed over to her. Then Luna was in sight, a weak smile on her pale and scarred features. There was a long scar running down the side of Luna's face, however, that made the others look rather pathetic.

"Luna," Hermione gasped.

"You look a lot better than I do, trust me, Hermione," Luna whispered.

"But surprisingly you healed faster," Tonks put in.

"I was in the backseat. Hermione flew out of the car," Luna pointed out.

Tonks nodded.

"True," she whispered, taking Hermione's hand and giving it a squeeze. "Well you're safe now."

They all looked over at the door when it opened and Remus Lupin poked his head in. His eyes brightened when he caught sight of Hermione sitting up in bed.

"You're up now," he said, coming in and standing at the foot of the bed. "When we saw the crash, we were afraid that the worst had happened."

"You were in the city?" Hermione asked weakly and Tonks held up a hand.

"We'll talk about that later," she said firmly, her eyes growing a little dark at the way the conversation was about to head. "Let's just get you better before we discuss how you got here in the first place."

Remus nodded slowly.

"We're just glad you're all safe… Neville's doing fine," he added when he saw the look in both Luna and Hermione's eyes. "He's in the other room. Ron's actually with him right now."

"Ron!" Hermione choked out over her water, eyes bulging and a painful twang constricting her heart. "Ron's here?"

Remus shot a look at Tonks.

"I thought you told her," he whispered.

Tonks shook her head.

"I hadn't gotten around to it yet, Remus," she replied coolly, standing up so that Luna could sit down on the bed. "I didn't want to stress her too much."

"He's _here_?" Hermione muttered again, mind racing with what this actually meant.

Ron Weasley was here… where ever here was…

Luna took Hermione's hand, just as anxious about this situation. They had not seen this boy for months and suddenly he just shows up out of no where.

"I thought he was gone…"

"Well… he came back… after he heard about the accident."

"How… where _are_ we anyway?" Hermione suddenly asked, completely confused by the change in circumstances. She was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that Ron was still here.

"The Black Forest," Remus answered. "A couple of miles from Baden, actually."

"That town-"

"A wizarding town, and don't worry about the Death Eaters, they won't bother you again," Tonks answered quickly, glancing over at Remus. Luna frowned.

"How is Ron here? Does that mean that-"

"Harry's not here."

They all looked over to the door to see Ron standing there, a weird expression on his face as his eyes fell on Hermione, who was staring right back at him with a blank look. For a moment there was an awkward and tense silence where no one moved. Then Tonks stood up and after accidentally knocking Hermione's water out of her hand, she took Luna by the arm and slowly led her to the door.

"Is Neville awake?" she asked Ron. Ron nodded slowly, his unsettled blue eyes still fixed on Hermione. When Luna passed, however, he tore his eyes away from the young woman in the bed to look down at Luna.

"Sorry about everything," he whispered to her so that Hermione could not hear. Luna shook her head, a sad smile on her face.

"It's okay," she whispered before moving out of the door with Tonks. Remus hesitated, not sure if Hermione was well enough for this sort of confrontation. However, when Hermione's eyes suddenly went dark and hardened, he had a feeling that staying would only make things worse for Ron, who would be going through hell in about five minutes.

"We'll come and check on you later," Remus whispered, more to Ron than to Hermione. Ron shot him a look before Remus shut the door behind him, leaving him to Hermione, whose eyes were narrowed. Neither of them spoke for the longest time; Hermione because she wanted to hear the excuses and Ron because he did not want to give them to her for sake of saying something wrong.

"You look better," Ron mumbled. "You were really- Hermione, wait!"

Hermione chucked her glass at him, hitting the wall right behind him instead. Ron held up his hands in front of him.

"Look, Hermione, I know you don't care what I have to say, but please understand-"

Hermione reached for the next thing she found. A vial of blood replenishers on the nightstand to the right of her. She chucked that at him as well, nearly hitting him in the head.

"You stupid prick!" she hissed. "I can't _believe_ you!"

"Hermione, you shouldn't exert yourself! You're going to hurt yourself if you-"

Hermione threw another vial at him, screaming in frustration.

"Do you have _any_ idea what I've been through?" she growled at him, eyes blazing with rage. "You son of a bitch!"

"Hermione, please just listen!" Ron begged, backing up behind a chair. "You have to understand-"

"I could kill you right now!" she shrieked. "Oh! _If I had a wand_!"

"Hermione, you need to calm down!"

"Don't you _dare_ tell me to calm down, you insensitive, uncaring, self-centered prat! You have _no_ idea what you've done to me!"

Before she could throw anything else at him, he lunged for the bed and wrestled the lamp out of her grasp before she could bring it crashing down to his head. She struggled against him, screaming more damnations as tears began to fall down her cheeks.

"Let go of me! Let go now!"

"Hermione, just listen!"

"I don't want to listen! I want to _kill_ you," she growled before he finally pinned her down on the bed, shifting his weight on top of her legs so she could not kick him.

"Hermione, just _listen_!" he snapped, holding down her hands on either side of her face. She spat at him before looking to the side, having no interest to speak to him.

"Get out, Ron," she whispered coldly.

"Hermione-"

She spat in his face again, glaring daggers up at him.

"_Get. Out. Now_."

Ron knew he would get no where with her now, so he got off the bed and wiped his face with his sleeve, sighing.

"I'm sorry, Hermione."

A hissing sound came from the bed and Ron left the bedroom quickly before she found something sharp to throw at him while his back was turned to her.

**A/N: Yes! Ron is here! We will see what happens after that.**

**cha cha dancer:** Well... there was some action...

**Fyre of the Funeral Pyre:** Not all dead... just wishing someone else was dead.

**jenny:** We'll address Hogwarts soon. As for the Black Forest, it's hard to find someone when they're in the forest.

**mgmve2008:** The town is magical.

**ThEnAmEsGiGi:** It's all about to get a bit crazier now that Hermione knows that Ron's around.

**firefairy2917:** Too bad, it's a beautiful country. I love Paris especially.

**Wesker888:** Were you off again, or did I give you something you weren't expecting?

**Ahhhhh!:** Well if you do fall off your seat, just don't hurt yourself!

**OzDust:** I don't think she's as upset with them anymore. I'll explain the Black Forest thing later, don't worry.

**tamara72:** Well, you guessed right for one of them. It would be a very abrupt ending if they died.

**x-x-xCAROLANNEx-x-x:** Thanks!

**No Chapter Tease.**


	14. Don't Kill the Messenger

_Truth springs from argument amongst friends. _**-David Hume**

* * *

It was two more days before Hermione finally got up and left the bedroom, with Tonks' help of course. Ron had not come back to see her since their confrontation the day she had woken up and she had not asked about him. She had absolutely no interest in talking to him after what he had done.

She headed down the stairs with Tonks one evening, taking in her surroundings as she went. Everything was made out of wood, making it seem like a sort of cabin or lake house. She glanced down the stairs and could hear talking. When they reached the bottom, she looked around. To her left was a large living room with couch, loveseat, three other chairs, a large television and a couple of tables. But that was not what stopped her. The far walls were completely made out of glass. It almost looked as if there was not a barrier at all. Beyond the glass was a huge balcony that overlooked the Black Forest, surrounding the entire house with trees.

It was beautiful.

"Hey Hermione!" Neville greeted from his place on the couch.

"Neville! You're up!" Hermione greeted, sitting down beside her friend. Neville grinned and hugged her quickly.

"Hey Hermione. How are you feeling?" he asked.

Hermione shrugged, glancing over at Remus and Luna who were sitting on other seats.

"Fine… you?"

Luna bit her lip.

"He's going to have a nasty scar where that gash was," she replied. Neville's eyes met hers for a moment before moving to Hermione.

"I'm feeling better," he added. Luna turned to Remus.

"Lupin was just telling us about what's going on at Hogwarts."

Hermione sat up straighter and Remus offered them a smile.

"Hogwarts for the most part is safe. The Death Eaters took over Hogsmeade, but haven't found a way into the castle."

"And the students?"

At this, Remus's smile faltered.

"We can't evacuate Hogwarts. The Floo systems were shut down after what happened last year with Ron..."

Hermione stared at him for a moment before looking down at her hands.

"You lied to me. You told me you didn't know where they were," she whispered.

"I didn't," Remus replied.

Hermione stood up.

"Then how is Ron-"

"Hagrid told me."

They all turned to see Ron standing at the door, holding Darcy in his hands. Upon seeing Hermione, the little skyfox started struggling in Ron's hands, squeaking repeatedly for her. Hermione crossed over and snatched Darcy from Ron, glaring at him.

"Stay away from him," she growled at Ron before moving to the stairs. She placed Darcy on her shoulder where he immediately began rubbing up against her neck, purring loudly and nipping at her skin affectionately.

"Hermione-"

She whirled around, glaring at them all.

"All of you lied to me!" she shouted, causing Darcy to wobble a little on her shoulder. "I don't have anything to say to any of you!"

Remus stood up.

"Hermione, we didn't know-"

"You lied! All of you-"

"Ginny's not dead."

There was a momentary silence in which all eyes turned to Ron, who suddenly turned red as if he had just said something he should not have.

"What?" Tonks asked, eyes wide and skin pale. They were all pale.

Ron hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to go about this.

"Ginny… Ginny isn't dead… She's in Romania… with Harry," he muttered the last part reluctantly. "So don't blame them, Hermione," he added, pointing to the other four. They all just stared at him, half expecting him to crack up laughing at the sick joke, but instead he just stood there, unaware that Hermione was inching closer to him.

"Prick!" she snapped, hitting him hard with as much force as she could summon. "How could you-"

Hermione's attempts at hurting Ron were cut off by Luna's attempt at killing Ron. The smaller young woman lunged across the room and slammed her weight into Ron, knocking him back into the hallway.

"Luna!" Neville yelped in surprise while Ron struggled to get the incensed girl off of him.

"You bastard!" Luna screamed, hitting Ron in the face with a clenched fist. "You made us all believe that she was dead!"

Hermione pressed herself to the wall, afraid that if she moved, she would either join Luna or try to help Ron…

Remus helped Ron get Luna off of him, pulling the irate blonde back into the living room and sitting her down beside Neville, who looked torn between comforting Luna and giving Ron a punch of his own. Hermione just stood by the wall, watching as Tonks examined the bruise that was quickly appearing under Ron's eye.

"I suppose I deserved that," he mumbled, spitting out a tooth that had been knocked loose when his head had hit the floor from Luna's initial assault.

"Yeah you did, you arse," Neville growled, holding Luna's hand as she glared daggers at Ron. It was obvious that if Neville had been in a better condition, he might have joined Luna.

Remus looked at Hermione, Neville and Luna and could see that it would be better to calm the situation before all three of them decided to stage a mutiny and kill Ron.

"I think we should all take a deep breath for a moment," he suggested, eyeing Hermione especially, since she was closest to Ron. "Hermione, perhaps you should sit over here," he added, pointing to the spot next to Luna. That way, if either of them decided to make a move, he could just freeze them all.

"I'm good here," Hermione muttered in response, eyes fixed dangerously on Ron, who was well aware of the reason why Remus had asked her to move. Remus crossed the room to Hermione and took her arm gently.

"Hermione, I think it would be better if you sat over there," he whispered. There was a moment where everyone thought Hermione was going to move towards Ron, but then she let out a threatening hiss and walked over to the couch, sitting down angrily beside Luna.

Tonks glanced around the room before sitting down and giving Ron an expectant look.

"Well… I think you owe us an explanation, Ron," she started. Remus sat down as well, giving Ron every indication that he would not be helping him out with this one.

Ron took a deep breath and sat down in the chair closest to the staircase. He touched his eye gingerly and winced before speaking.

"I know I owe all of you an explanation so I'm going to do my best to explain as much as possible to you… okay… well… first of all, Ginny's not dead," he whispered, earning him more nasty looks from the three on the couch. "She's safe in Romania with Harry. They're waiting for me to return actually…"

"What the hell happened?" Neville growled. "Why did you make us think-"

"When Harry got to the Burrow he and I began planning for an escape that summer and we wanted to get you, Hermione, over to the house, but Remus absolutely refused to let us contact you," he said, glancing over to Remus. "He said that Voldemort was watching the owls and if Harry or I sent a message, you would be in trouble… we ended up having to use as a last resort."

"A last resort for what?" Hermione asked softly.

Ron leaned back in his chair, looking completely defeated.

"We were going to make it look as if something terrible had happened to you… then Harry and I would leave, taking you with us while everyone else thought you were dead," he explained.

Luna shook her head, tears coming to her eyes.

"So you used Ginny instead. You decided to have Ginny _die_ so that you guys could just _leave_," she hissed.

Ron shook his head.

"You weren't supposed to be there… _no one_ we knew was supposed to be there except my family and a couple of people from the Order… We didn't even know that you knew until Hagrid told us about your training," he whispered sadly.

"Of course Hagrid knew," Remus muttered to himself. "Harry trusts Hagrid but not me."

Ron flinched at that.

"Harry didn't want you to worry about him… he knew that if you knew what was really going on, you would insist on coming along," he said, glancing over at Tonks, who had stiffened at the comment. "He wanted you to stay here…"

Remus glanced over at Tonks, but said nothing.

Hermione looked down at her hands and took a deep breath.

"You could have still told me, Ron," she whispered.

Ron shook his head.

"No I couldn't have," he responded. "It was impossible to get to your house without drawing attention from the Death Eaters and we only had a certain window of opportunity to get out of England before Voldemort started focusing more attention on the Burrow. We couldn't tell you anything."

"Yes you could have!"

"Hermione, we couldn't-"

"Oh go to hell," she spat before getting up and leaving the room. They heard her go up the stairs and slam the door behind her. Remus closed his eyes.

"So Harry and Ginny are safe?"

Ron nodded silently, eyes on the ceiling as if hoping to see Hermione through the wood.

"Did Dumbledore know?"

Ron nodded again but never took his eyes off the ceiling.

"Yeah… he took Ginny to Hogwarts… we were supposed to meet up with her there and then leave…"

Remus frowned.

"Ron… you need to give her some time… she's been completely in the dark for the past few months…"

"Apparently we all have," Neville muttered bitterly, attracting their attention. If it was possible, Ron looked even more miserable.

"We never meant for you two to know…"

"And Hermione?" Luna snapped. "What about her?"

Ron paled.

"It hurt a lot to do it… I knew Hermione would be a wreck… she probably still is a wreck… but we had to leave to find out what was going on in Europe. Voldemort's doing a lot of stuff out here that Dumbledore or the Order couldn't investigate. It was hard for all of us to leave you all behind like that," he muttered before sighing. "I… _we_… knew it would be hard… and we spent countless nights debating on whether or not we should go back-"

"Then why didn't you?" Tonks asked, honestly curious.

"Because they couldn't."

They all turned to see Hermione standing at the bottom of the stairs, eyes on Ron.

"They had a job to do in Europe," she continued. "They had to get information and to come back after a couple of weeks would only ruin the contacts they had started to form and the train of intelligence they had begun to get… they couldn't just come back because of me…"

"We wanted to," Ron whispered. "We really did… _I_ really did…"

Hermione regarded him for a moment before she turned to Remus, who was watching the two anxiously.

"What are you two doing out here?" she asked, quickly and permanently changing the topic for the rest of the day. She had no interest in getting into a fight with Ron just yet. She was too weak for that.

Remus realized what she was doing immediately and pointed at her, Luna and Neville.

"Hagrid told us that he sent you here… actually he told us that he mentioned something about Black. I figured you three were smart enough to figure out that it was the Black Forest. We were going to intercept you here and keep you safe until it was time to go back to London," he explained.

Luna frowned, finally turning her hateful gaze away from Ron.

"Why wouldn't it be safe for us to return?" she asked.

Tonks sighed.

"Voldemort knows about Ginny's 'death'," she said, putting air quotes around the word death. "His next move would be to come after Hermione. You two are close to Hermione so he could use you."

"Why didn't he go after Hermione in the first place?" Neville asked. "I mean, she's Ron and Harry's best friend."

"Until recently," Hermione added bitterly, causing Ron to flinch. Remus hesitated. He was well aware of the dangerous atmosphere Ron's presence and recent confession was creating and knew that if Neville, Hermione and Luna (Hermione especially) did not make an effort to understand Ron's explanation in the slightest, things would get worse very quickly.

"Because until three days before the attack at Hogsmeade he believed that Hermione had no idea what was going on. Like I'd said before, he's been reading her thoughts."

Ron grew visibly still, forcing Hermione to look at him. He was staring at the ground with a hard determined look on his face, as if hoping to make the floorboards crack.

"Is he still?" she asked, causing everyone to jerk. Remus quickly shook his head, quelling the fear that had filled the room.

"No, no," he answered hastily. "The moment you left England he had no reason to."

"Does that mean he knows where we are?" Luna demanded.

Remus shook his head.

"He only read her thoughts through her dreams."

"Why?" Ron asked, drawing everyone's attention. He went completely red and shrugged. "I'm just curious as to why he would only try to read her thoughts when she was sleeping… that's all…"

At this, Remus smiled.

"Because Voldemort knew that Dumbledore would have Hermione guarded during the day by McGonagall, Snape and Warner," he replied.

Hermione frowned.

"Speaking of Warner, she's a telepathic isn't she?"

Tonks smiled.

"And a very close friend of mine."

Ron frowned.

"Warner as in Stephanie Warner the woman who's been watching us when Hagrid couldn't get to us?" he asked.

"Apparently," Remus responded.

Luna, noticing Hermione's agitation with the fact that the conversation was steering back towards Ron's disappearance, stood up suddenly.

"Are we going to be eating soon?" she asked. Tonks grin broadened and she stood up as well.

"Of course! I'll go set the table," she said. Remus grabbed her arm and steered her back to her seat.

"Why don't you stay here and _I'll_ set the table?" he suggested with a pointed look. Neville snorted but quickly sobered up when Tonks shot him a look.

"I'll… go help," he muttered, getting up and leaving with Luna and Remus. For a moment everything was silent then Tonks shot up out of her seat.

"I have to go Floo Dumbledore," she said, remembering her duties. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

She left the room quickly, leaving Ron and Hermione in a tense silence. Ron could literally feel the room become colder with every second that went by and he had a very good feeling that it was Hermione that was doing it.

Hermione was silent for that time, trying to ignore the overwhelming urge to chuck something at the young redheaded man just a few meters away.

She had spent the time upstairs picking through everything he had told her… the plan… Ginny… everything…

It was a plan that, if it had been told to her before all of this had happened, she would have to say was full proof. It made complete sense.

The girl Harry loved would be killed and Harry would go off for revenge or something of the sort. Ron, being the loyal best friend, would come along and no one would ask questions. The mourning family would stay behind, in too much grief to do a thing and everyone else would believe that Ron and Harry had been expelled. Now that Hermione thought about it, expulsion was a very likely thing because of what had happened the year before. Ron especially had been close to expulsion a few times. Hermione just had not allowed herself to believe the lie because she knew Ron and Harry would never _purposefully_ do something to get themselves expelled.

It was a perfect plan.

In fact it was _the_ perfect plan.

If Hermione had been there, she would have applauded them for thinking it up by themselves.

Except for the part where Hermione was left in the dark. _That_ part she did not like at all.

But then again, that would mean that Ginny would be in her position if Harry and Ron had been able to contact her.

Hermione glanced over at Ron, who was seemed to be doing his best to avoid her gaze.

He seemed older than she remembered… more… tired.

Had it been from what he had been doing around Europe… or had it been from the guilt of the separation…

Hermione cared to think of it as the latter, only because it made her feel better, but she did not voice her opinion. She did not want to talk to him. Not yet anyway.

"Dinner!"

Both of them looked up to see Neville standing at the dining room doorway, watching them closely. Hermione was the first to the door and entered before Ron made it to the dining room. Hermione sat as far away from Ron as possible and Remus and Tonks divided Ron from Luna and Neville, who were still a little angry at him about the turn of events. For the first part of the meal no one said a word, giving Ron the impression that at any moment one of them would lunge at him with a knife.

Tonks finally looked up from her food with a mischievous look on her face.

"So you left Harry and Ginny _alone_ in Romania?" she asked coyly.

Ron made a face.

"I left them with a very reliable Auror who promised to tell me if anything happened that I had not deemed appropriate," he replied curtly.

"So basically everything that has to do with physical contact?" Remus asked.

Ron nodded.

"Exactly."

Neville snorted but said nothing while Luna rolled her eyes. Hermione just kept her eyes on her plate, taking deep even breaths to calm herself down.

"What are you doing in Romania anyway?" Luna asked a little rudely. Ron was surprised that she spoke to him.

"Um… well… we're trying to get information and alliances with the vampires, actually," he said.

"Vampires," Hermione could not help but say. "Isn't that dangerous?"

Not wanting to lose this little window of calm, Ron responded quickly and with no hesitation.

"Well, yeah, but some of them don't actually drink human blood so it's easier to talk to them. Some of them have already joined Voldemort, but others are still on the fence and we're trying to convince them to join us," he explained.

"How are you able to approach them though? Most vampires don't like to be approached except by a-"

"Ginny," he cut in quickly, looking around the table. "Some of them are interested in Ginny… all of our discussions normally go through her."

"I'm sure Harry hates that," Remus said with a chuckle. Ron smirked.

"Yeah, well, he's learning to deal. Ginny has no interest in crossing over to the immortal world any time soon."

To Hermione's surprise she felt her stomach flutter at the sight of his lop-sided grin and that feeling only brought a twang of pain into her heart. She took another deep breath to calm herself down. She tried to think about anything but the feelings of betrayal and hurt that were still flooding through her, but the longer she remained in his presence the more real they became. So instead of subject herself to that, she stood up to leave.

"I need some air," she muttered, leaving the dining room, crossing through the living room to the huge glass door and opening it to the balcony. She leaned against the far railing and breathed in the cool forest air. Closing her eyes she sighed.

"Hermione?"

She kept her eyes closed.

"Ron, you should go back inside," she whispered.

"I wanted to see if you were okay?"

"Ron please… just go…"

There was a momentary silence and then she felt him lean against the railing beside her. She took another deep breath.

"Ron… I really think-"

"I'm sorry, Hermione."

She finally opened her eyes and looked over at him. Though it was quite dark outside, the glow from the lights inside accentuated the fact that he paler than the moon. Because of his proximity, she could see the scars on his neck and it took everything in her power not to reach out and touch them.

"Ron, saying you're sorry after months of being gone isn't going to change the fact that you left."

"I know… I just wanted you to know… that's all…" he murmured, meeting her eyes. They stared at each other for a minute before Hermione broke the connection and looked back into the forest.

"Okay, well… okay," she whispered.

Ron could tell that she wanted him gone so he turned to leave. Just as he was about to get inside, she stopped him.

"Ron," she whispered, her back still facing him.

"Yes?" he asked eagerly.

"Why did you come now?"

"You were dying…"

Before Hermione could reply, she heard the glass door close. She closed her eyes and tried not to cry.

"Oh Ron… why'd you have to leave?"

**A/N: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I've been waiting 14 Chapters just to do that! HAHA! Ginny is alive! HAHAHAHA! But all of you thought she was dead! HAHAHAHAHAHA! I have waited _so_ long just to do that! I was actually going to do it sooner as in it was Ginny Hermione woke up to instead of Tonks, but I decided to draw it out a little longer! HAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHA! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**

**Bow down to my awesomeness!**

**(Not really, but it's a nice thought!) :-)**

**nextbestthing:** Well... it kinda is his fault. His fault and Harry's fault and of course the very much alive Ginny's fault.

**Blue Leah:** Then I'm guessing you weren't expecting this either.

**sballLuvr5:** Ginny's back! Ginny's back! Ginny's back! :-)

**cha cha dancer:** This one as well?

**ThEnAmEsGiGi:** A lot more craziness!

**tamara72:** I don't think that's going to be happening soon.

**Fyre of the Funeral Pyre:** Now you know why no chapter tease! It would have given everything away!

**jenny:** I wouldn't be expecting a kiss for a _very_ long time, if ever. Ron's still in the doghouse.

**OzDust:** I'm thinking poor Neville and Luna. They were probably the biggest victims of the whole thing.

**mgmve2008:** Harry's not making an appearance. Not anytime soon anyway.

**DRAMIONE4EVA15:** Thank you.

**x-x-xCAROLANNEx-x-x:** He deserved what Luna did to him as well!

**Ahhhhh!:** Oh don't settle yet. There's a bit more anger to come.

**Wesker888:** He's not in the other chapters. He's new.

**Chapter Tease:**

_"I don't know… I don't want to leave with all of you…" he drifted off here._

_"With all of us hating you?" Luna finished. When Ron did not answer she sighed. "Ron… I… I don't hate you…" She bit her lip and corrected herself. "Well… not now… and Hermione doesn't hate you either…"_

_Ron sighed and rested his head down on the cool marble counter. _

_"I… I never wanted to do this… I never wanted to leave her…"_


	15. Nighttime Discussions

_Reality leaves a lot to the imagination._ **–John Lennon**

* * *

Professor McGonagall walked down the dark halls of Hogwarts quickly, her heart racing as she made it to the Headmaster's office. She hurriedly said the password and went up the stairs. She burst through the door and stopped at Dumbledore's desk.

"Albus, Stephanie's seen something," she gasped out, clutching her chest to calm herself down. "Severus is with her now, but he says she won't remember it for much longer."

Dumbledore stood up immediately and followed McGonagall out the door.

"What do you know?" he asked as they made their way swiftly down the hallway to the DADA office.

McGonagall shook her head.

"Severus was with her when it happened. He called me and told me to get you immediately, but didn't tell me much, Albus," she explained as they entered the classroom. They made their way up the stairs and into the office. Stephanie was sitting in the chair behind her desk. Severus was kneeling down before her, holding her hand and watching her carefully.

"Severus?" Dumbledore inquired.

The Potions Master tore his gaze away from the telepathic.

"She says she's seen a way to find more Death Eater meetings," he whispered softly. Minerva walked around the desk and touched Stephanie's blank face.

"Stephanie… is she okay?"

The dark skinned woman blinked several times before she jolted in her seat and looked down at Snape.

"Severus… we need to contact Harry…"

Snape's face twisted into a wry grimace at the mention of Potter, but he said nothing as he continued to hold her hand. Minerva shook the woman.

"Stephanie, what did you see?"

Stephanie looked up at her.

"I saw Zurich… I saw Jacob Rainer… he knows something… something he knows we need…"

Dumbledore immediately turned to Snape.

"Get her vision and then send it to Harry quickly," he instructed before turning to McGonagall.

"Minerva, you and I need to pay a visit to the Ministry of Magic."

* * *

Ron looked up from his steaming mug to see Luna enter the kitchen. At first she seemed a little hesitant, but then she sat across from him, silent. Ron watched her for a moment before he poured another cup of tea and handed it to him.

"How's Neville?" Ron finally asked, trying to get the conversation away from the day's previous disaster. Luna took her cup gratefully and sipped at it.

"He's doing a _lot_ better," she answered. Ron nodded.

"Those muggle medications he was on surprisingly helped a little, but that car accident really messed him up badly. Devlin thought he wasn't going to make it, but he just woke up two days ago and well… you know the rest…"

"Devlin?" Luna asked. Ron shrugged.

"He's a German Healer Remus called in after he got out of the town and back here. Remus knew him from a while back. When I arrived, he'd already started fixing you three right up… Devlin's great…."

"Is he here now?" Luna asked.

Ron shook his head.

"No… he lives in Berlin, so he can't come up here often for obvious reasons."

"Oh…" was all Luna offered, her lips pulled back into a thin line as she thought about this evening. She looked up and studied Ron for a moment. "You've been in Romania the whole time?" Luna asked.

Ron looked up from his cup of tea and shook his head.

"No… we started out in France for three weeks then we were in Denmark for two. We visited Sweden for a few days, Finland and Norway also. We've been following several prominent Death Eaters around Europe. They're gathering all sorts of brutes for this war," he said with a shudder.

"How long have you been in Romania?"

Ron frowned as he thought about it.

"A month actually… We were supposed to leave a week ago, but we got a tip about the vampires and decided to stay a little longer to investigate…"

"Oh." Luna looked around the room and frowned. "Where are we exactly?"

Ron pointed out of the kitchen window.

"A cabin ten miles north of the town you guys crashed in. It's not really a cabin. More like a lake house without the lake. It's really amazing actually… well I'm sure you've seen a lot of it…"

Luna tilted her head to the side.

"Are you going to leave… since we're better?" she asked.

"I don't know… I don't want to leave with all of you…" he drifted off here.

"With all of us hating you?" Luna finished. When Ron did not answer she sighed. "Ron… I… I don't hate you…" She bit her lip and corrected herself. "Well… not _now_… and Hermione doesn't hate you either…"

Ron sighed and rested his head down on the cool marble counter.

"I… I never wanted to do this… I never wanted to leave her…"

Luna reached across the countertop and took his hand.

"I know…"

She heard him let out a frustrated sigh and she could not help but smile as he raised his head again. She pointed at his face.

"Sorry about attacking you earlier… I was a bit out of sorts," she apologized.

Ron touched his face.

"You shouldn't apologize, Luna. I deserved it," he muttered. Luna's smile broadened.

"Yes, yes you did," she said in her dreamlike voice. Ron rolled his eyes.

"You don't have to agree with me."

* * *

"Do you know if Ron got the message to go to Zurich?"

Harry looked up from the file he was reading and smiled to see Ginny standing at the study door, wearing a large Quiddich jersey and shorts that barely stuck out from under the pullover, leaving her long bare legs exposed.

"I'm pretty sure he did," he replied, watching as she came in, went around the desk and sat down on it so that she was right in front of him. She pointed to the file.

"Who's that?" she asked.

Harry glanced down at it before looking up at her.

"Joshua Wagner. One of the Death Eaters assigned to our friends here," he said sarcastically. Ginny smiled and nudged him with her foot.

"I thought you were over them," she said.

"They attacked Ron," he pointed out.

Ginny placed her hands behind her and crossed her legs, leaning back.

"Yes, but they also helped us locate those two idiots who attacked us two months ago in Paris."

Harry rolled his eyes, looking back down at the file.

"Yeah, well…"

Ginny's smile brightened as she slid off the desk and into his lap, glancing out the door.

"Do you think Devonshire's nearby?" she asked with obvious obliviousness. Harry wrapped his arms around her small waist, looking up at her.

"Why?"

Instead of answering, Ginny leaned in and brushed her lips against his slowly, running her hand down his face. Harry reached up and took hold of her hand, keeping it there while he pulled her closer, deepening the kiss.

Somewhere deep inside of Harry, he was grateful that he was no longer in England.

For the past few months he had been able to live without the fear of impending death each day. He had been able to live with the beautiful idea of waking up to see Ginny at breakfast and Ginny when he and Ron came home from being out around the town. He had been able to live, period.

Now, holding her in his arms, he knew he could stay like this forever. Living off of her and the hope she brought into his life… the need for survival…

When he started to pull away for some air, Ginny continued to kiss him swiftly on the lips before planting a quick trail of kisses up his jaw to the spot below his ear.

"Ginny," he moaned.

Ginny grinned, pulling away a little so that she could look him in the eyes.

"What?" she asked. "Are you afraid of me?"

Harry stared up at her, amazement in his eyes at the beauty he beheld.

"Yes…"

That statement sobered him up immediately and her eyes filled with tears. She bit her lip as she reached out and traced his lips with her fingertips.

"Harry," she whispered, running her hand down his neck to his chest, stopping at his heart. "Don't be afraid…"

Their lips met again and he pulled her closer, one of his hands moving to the small of her back and causing her to shudder as his mouth moved against hers with the intention of getting the feelings he could not express across. Ginny's chest constricted and her heart began to beat faster as the passion began to grow. Just the fact that their bodies were so close was doing things to her mind that she never thought possible.

She could feel Harry hesitating beneath her and she slowed herself down, pulling away so that their lips were barely touching.

"Sorry," she whispered, knowing he was still uncomfortable with even this level of intimacy.

"Ahem."

Ginny pulled away from Harry quickly and stood up, blushing furiously and biting her lip while Harry stood up at the desk, growing a little pale. Devonshire gave them an amused look.

"I told your brother I wouldn't let you two do anything inappropriate," he said, leaning against the door jam. Ginny's blush deepened.

"What my brother doesn't know won't hurt him," she said. Devonshire grinned.

"Yeah, but it will hurt Harry once his best friend finds out I've been lying to him," he said before turning to leave. "Goodnight you two," he added pointedly.

Ginny grinned as he left and turned to face Harry, who was trying to hide a smile himself as he shifted through some of the files on the desk. Ginny could not help but be amazed by how different he was since he'd found out that Hermione was okay. He smiled more and he had been much more open about his feelings towards her, making her happier.

She prayed to God that that feeling did not go away.

She moved over to him, leaned in and kissed him softly on the cheek.

"Good night, Harry," she whispered. "I love you."

The smile appeared on his face, but he did not turn to look at her. That was fine. She did not need to hear it back. She just needed to know that he was not going to run away.

"Good night, Gin," he replied, opening a file and looking through it. Ginny couldn't help but lean in and nip at his ear and neck. She felt his arm circle her waist as he let out a little groan. He moved his head and kissed her on the lips. They remained like that for a couple of minutes before Harry let out another groan.

"Come on, Gin," he muttered, kissing her neck before gently pushing her away. "You should go."

Ginny grinned and turned to leave.

"Harry Potter loves me," she said childishly. "Harry Potter loves me!"

"Ginny!"

She looked over her shoulder at Harry, who was trying not to smile at her. She flashed him a winning smile.

"It's true," she whispered before ducking out of the study.

Harry sighed and sat back down in his seat.

"Yeah…" he murmured, looking at the Death Eater file. He reached up and rubbed his burning scar, taking a deep, shaky breath. "That's why you're dead…"

* * *

Hermione woke up to a creaking in the floorboards. She sat up in bed and strained her ears to hear voices coming up the stairs. Biting her lip, she got out of bed and went to the door. Opening the door, she looked out to see Luna standing at the door with Ron. They both turned to see her standing there. Ron paled a little at the sight of her, but said nothing as Luna said goodnight and moved past Hermione.

"You two are up late," she whispered to Ron.

"I couldn't sleep," he replied, watching her carefully. Hermione nodded slowly, looking down at her hands.

"Goodnight, Ron," she murmured, turning to go back into the bedroom.

"Hermione," Ron said, reaching out to take her hand. Hermione went stiff and turned to stare at both their hands, an unidentifiable look on her face. Ron immediately removed his hand from her, hesitating for a moment before speaking. "Um… I… I really am sorry."

"You keep saying that Ron," she said, closing her eyes with weariness.

"And I mean it."

Hermione could feel the tears coming to her eyes and she looked up for divine intervention.

"I _know_ Ron," she said with a clenched jaw.

"Hermione-"

Hermione held up a hand and looked at him.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," she whispered. "Please… not now…"

Ron nodded, seeing her need to disappear. He took a deep breath and stepped away.

"Fine… goodnight, Hermione," he whispered.

Hermione nodded.

"Night, Ron," she murmured before going into the room and closing the door behind her.

**A/N: Okay, so it's not as eventful as most, but at least you got to see Harry and Ginny.**

**marvelous-fanwriter:** I think it all depends on how Hermione and the others feel about Ron. There's a lot of stuff going on.

**sballLuvr5:** He is cute isn't he!

**ThEnAmEsGiGi:** It's all very complicated, but a lot will be explained (hopefully) in the next couple of chapters.

**tamara72:** I hope they will too, but you never know!

**cha cha dancer:** Who knows?

**nextbestthing:** Well, at least you know that I'm not really going to answer them. :-) But it's good to hear them though.

**x-x-xCAROLANNEx-x-x:** They will talk again, don't worry.

**wow60:** Well, they're not _completely _alone, but they're together, so that's a start.

**jenny:** Well, I thought that Luna lunging at Ron and beating him up like a feral cat was pretty hurt. But you have to remember that they're torn between being angry and being relieved, so it's hard to feel completely hurt when you've been wanting to see someone for the longest time. Well, I don't want to start mimicking that book, so I'm going to try my best to make them as different as possible (if that's possible)! Every version of vampires has done in the movies and in books! This is going to be hard!

**Fyre of the Funeral Pyre:** Well, with the way things are going, it's going to take a lot to get them back together.

**mgmve2008:** They do want to grab each other and never let go, but they can't. Not yet anyway.

**DRAMIONE4EVA15:** Thanks.

**No Chapter Tease. I don't have the document on this computer and I don't want to start making things up. **

**Until next time!**

**R/R!**


	16. Things Left Unsaid

_We read that we ought to forgive our enemies; but we do not read that we ought to forgive our friends_. **-Sir Francis Bacon**

* * *

The next morning, Hermione woke up to find that the house was empty. There was a note by her nightstand that told her that Remus and Tonks had taken Neville and Luna down into the town to get them some clothes and other supplies. Ron was out running a vaguely described job in Berlin.

Sighing, Hermione glanced down at her pillow to see Darcy cuddled up on it, breathing slowly as he slept. Smiling, she quietly got out of bed and left the room, feeling completely famished. She walked down the stairs and into the kitchen.

After a couple of minutes of searching, she settled for some cereal she found in a cupboard and an apple. Sitting at the small kitchen table, she gazed out the window as she ate, going over everything that had happened yesterday.

Ginny was alive…

It seemed almost unreal, yet when she had been told that Ginny was dead, it had been unreal as well…

Ron was here…

That revelation brought mixed feelings into Hermione.

On one hand she wanted to be mad at him and make him suffer for torturing her in the dark… but on the other hand she wanted nothing more than to jump into his arms and hold on to him for as long as possible…

Sighing again, she looked down at her spoon and bit her lip.

Had he missed her as much as she had missed him?

It was such an unusual thought that it took her by surprise and she almost did not hear Darcy squeaking upstairs.

She rushed up the stairs and got to him before he started screaming. Hermione carried him down the stairs, smiling as he whimpered for food while pawing at her face for her attention.

"Okay, okay," she said, sitting back down and cutting up the apple. She handed him a piece and he ate it quickly, purring with delight. "Yeah, I know."

There was a creaking in the floorboards behind her and she turned around to see Ron walking in to the kitchen.

When Ron caught sight of Hermione standing there, he froze and went completely pale. It was as if he had anticipated this moment, but was still terrified by having to face her.

They stared at each other for a moment before Darcy finally realized that Hermione was not feeding him any more. He let out a high pitched squeak with broke the invisible connection that had formed between the two. Hermione smiled and turned to the little skyfox.

"Okay, here," she said, handing him another piece of apple. "My, you are impossible."

"It was harder to get him to eat while you were unconscious," he whispered. Hermione nodded, rubbing Darcy behind the ears.

"He can be a handful," she murmured. "I hope he wasn't too bad."

Ron shook his head, uncomfortable with Hermione's way too calm behavior.

"No… he was fine," he muttered, watching Hermione carefully as she finally looked up at him. They stared at each other for a moment before Hermione returned to her cereal.

Ron watched her from the other side of the kitchen, uncertain of her real opinion of him. He had no interest in getting another black eye.

His eyes moved over her determined face and knew she was trying desperately to ignore him as she began to eat. His eyes moved over the scars that moved down her neck and under the shirt she was wearing. There were many on her arms and feet, that poked out under the sweatpants. Her hair was so much shorter than he remembered and her eyes seemed harder.

Had the last few months been worse than he had thought?

The sudden clink of Hermione's dropped fork woke Ron out of his thoughts and he realized that Hermione was watching him curious.

"You've changed," she whispered oddly, tilting her head to the side. "You look different."

Ron did not say anything and that only seemed to amuse her.

"I suppose I've changed more," she murmured, returning to Darcy, who had taking his feeding into his own hands and was now munching on the apple. Ron hesitated, very aware that this could be a trick. He timidly made his way over to the table and sat down across from her. For a moment he did not say a thing, but then he reached out and scratched Darcy behind the ears.

"How are you feeling?" he asked softly.

Hermione shrugged.

"I'm feeling better," she replied. After a moment's thought, she looked up at him. "How are Harry and Ginny?

"Hermione-"

"It's a very simple question, Ronald," she said coolly. "How are they?"

"They're fine Hermione," he answered quickly, noticing how fast she became irritated. She nodded and looked back down at Darcy, who was playing with the apple core. "They miss you," he added for good measure.

"That's why they came," she muttered.

"We couldn't all come. Two of us would have had to stay to keep an eye on the vampires," Ron countered.

"So you decided to come. Why? To see me on my deathbed and plead my forgiveness?"

"No."

"Then why are you here all of a sudden?!"

"Because there was no reason to hide anymore," Ron replied evenly, knowing that if he got angry that would only make things worse between himself and the very annoyed Hermione.

She snorted at the comment and sat back in her chair. This only irritated Ron.

"Oh come on, Hermione. That's not fair. You-"

That was it. Hermione's eyes narrowed and she became completely rigid.

"_That's not fair? That's not fair?_" she hissed. Darcy whimpered as his eyes began to turn purple. "Do you want to know what isn't _fair_? Being kept in the dark by your three friends! Being lied to for the better half of my seventh year! That's what isn't fair!"

"Hermione, look-"

"Don't you 'Hermione' me! Do you have _any_ idea what I've been going through for the past few months?!"

"Hermione-"

"ANSWER ME!" she screamed, causing him to fall out of his seat in shock. "You have _absolutely no_ idea what I've been through!"

Ron stood up quickly and backed away as she stood up aggressively from her seat. Darcy was whining loudly now.

"Hermione-"

She slapped him in the face, glaring daggers at him. Ron clutched the side of his face, trying to think of the words to express how he felt.

"I'm so sorry, Hermione," he whispered. "I know that will never be enough, but I am _so_ sorry. I feel so bad for what's happened. Worse than you could possibly imagine!"

Hermione sat back down, staring down at the table. She took a deep breath, knowing that if she continued any further in her heightened state of anger, she would end up doing or saying something she would regret later.

"Ron… you lied to me… I can't just forgive you," she said.

"I know… and I understand… I deserve it," he whispered. "But please… don't push me away. I still care about you."

Hermione looked up and for the first time in a long time she saw absolute truth. She saw sincerity… and it scared her…

She bit her lip and looked away, nodding slowly.

"Okay… I won't…" she murmured. A smile suddenly came to her face. "But trust me… the moment I get a new wand, I'm going to kick your arse."

With that said, she got up and left the table, leaving Ron with a very relieved Darcy. The little skyfox waddled over to Ron and began pawing at his arm, giving him a quizzical look.

"Yeah, she's crazy."

"I heard that!"

Ron smiled and scratched Darcy behind the ears.

"She's also the best person I know, so you chose well."

On the other side of the kitchen door, Hermione smiled as she felt her heart flutter with the familiar feelings she had felt towards Ron for a very long time.

She closed her eyes and sighed.

_Keep it together, Hermione… let's make him wait a little longer…_

* * *

Ron and Hermione spent the rest of the day cleaning up the house and talking about everything that had nothing to do with Harry, Ginny or the past few torturous months.

"How did you hear about our accident anyway?" Hermione asked as they finished cleaning the first three bedrooms on the lower level. The house had ten bedrooms in all and a couple of other large sporting or media rooms, making it much bigger than Hermione had originally thought.

At this question, Ron's face grew pale.

"Well… When Remus found you, he contacted Dumbledore who told Hagrid who contacted us."

"And you decided to come?"

Ron looked up at her.

"You were dying, Hermione… I didn't want to…" he drifted off at this and looked back down at the box of old relics they had found. "I wanted to make sure you were being properly taken care of."

Hermione stared at him for a moment before she entered the living room and sat down on the couch. Ron set down the box in his hands and sat down in one of the chairs. She was silent for a moment before she suddenly turned to Ron and gave him a weird look.

"Am I going to be coming back with you or are you going to send me back to England?" she asked bluntly.

Ron looked surprised by the question and it took him a moment to close his mouth and think about what she had just asked.

"Um… what?"

Hermione looked a bit more determined this time.

"Are you going to send me back, or are you going to take me with you when you return to Romania?" she repeated.

Ron hesitated, knowing that the wrong answer would ruin everything he had tried so hard to fix.

"I… I think it will depend on your health," he whispered.

Hermione contemplated his answer. She could see in his eyes that he would do anything to say that she would come back to Romania with him, but knew very well that it all depended on what Remus had to say. Ron was trying to avoid any confrontation.

"Well… do _you_ want me back in England?" she asked, rephrasing her question. Ron grew a little red and looked down at his hands.

"I… um… to be honest, I want you with us in Romania… you, Luna and Neville," he added.

Hermione nodded, satisfied with his answer. He tilted his head to the side.

"Why?"

Hermione shrugged.

"I'm just eager to see Harry and Ginny again," she replied.

"Why, so you can run into their arms and tell them how much you've missed them?" Ron asked, still remembering the blows he had received.

Hermione fixed him with a stern look.

"No… so that when I see them, I can curse them."

"You don't have a wand."

"A minor inconvenience," she muttered. "I'll just borrow yours. You won't need it anyway."

"Why?"

Hermione gave him a pointed look and he flinched at her silent meaning.

"Figured that much," he grumbled.

Hermione nodded and began to look around the room. While she did so, she unconsciously reached up and touched her hair, frowning at the lack of hair thereof.

"What happened to it?"

Hermione looked over to him and noticed him pointing to her hair. She blushed and immediately removed her hand from her head.

"Some woman on the train cut it," she grumbled. "We were being followed and my hair stuck out."

Ron tilted his head to the side.

"I actually think it looks okay."

Hermione shot him a murderous look and he cringed.

"Sorry."

Hermione sniffed and returned to looking around. Darcy, who had fallen asleep in the kitchen an hour ago, came waddling in to the living room. He nipped her toe playfully before stretching his small wings. He made three attempts to fly before he actually became airborne. He teetered a little but managed to use his paws to half fly, half crawl up the side of the couch and onto the pillow next to Hermione. Darcy clambered onto her lap and instantly curled up into her, purring loudly. Hermione smiled.

"Darcy, you really are too much," she whispered, scratching him behind the ears.

"Darcy?" Ron asked.

Hermione glanced over at him and shrugged.

"Darcy is a name of a character in a book I like," she told him. "His behavior is much different, but I liked the name."

"Hmm…"

Hermione began playing with Darcy, who pawed at her hand while rolling around on his back, nipping at her fingers and squeaking occasionally with glee. His big white eyes were tinted with blue as Hermione tickled his belly.

"Hermione?"

"Yes," she replied softly, looking up at him. Their eyes met and held for a moment.

"I really am sorry… you know that right?"

Hermione hesitated for a moment before she nodded slowly and looked back down at the little skyfox.

"I know Ron."

Satisfied with that much, Ron leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, tired from all the stuff he'd done that morning. Hermione watched him carefully for a moment, taking in the way he breathed as he slept and the way he frowned as his sleep became deeper.

"I know Ron," she repeated, rubbing Darcy's back as she too succumbed to sleep.

* * *

When Remus entered the house, he was surprised to hear laughter coming from the living room. Tonks, Luna and Neville followed him into the large room and stopped at the door, shocked to see Ron and Hermione sitting on the same couch. Hermione was laughing while Ron was relating a story about one of his many experiences traveling around Europe with Harry and Ginny. Darcy was on Ron's lap, his eyes bright blue as he soaked in the rather happy situation around him.

The two looked up the moment they heard the other four at the door. Ron's smile faltered, obviously a little upset that they had been interrupted. Hermione on the other hand only smiled.

"Hey!" she greeted. "How was the town?" she asked, noticing the bags of clothes and supplies in their hands. It took them a moment to recover from the shock of seeing the two together before Remus spoke.

"Um… it was good," he muttered. "We got a lot done. You?"

Ron glanced over at Hermione, who was watching him carefully.

"I did what I needed to do," he responded, returning his gaze to Remus. The older man nodded slowly moving back into the kitchen. Tonks waved at the two on the couch before she followed Remus. Luna shot a look at Ron before holding up one of her bags.

"I hope you don't mind, Hermione," she said in her normal dreamlike voice. "I got some clothes for you. We're sort of the same size."

Hermione stood up and went over to her, glancing into the bags.

"That's okay, Luna. I'm sure whatever you picked is fine."

Neville couldn't help but snort at the comment. When Luna turned her gaze upon him, he blushed and went to sit down.

"She got some really nice stuff," he corrected himself. Luna sat down beside him, setting down the bags.

"What were you two doing all day?"

Hermione shrugged.

"We spent most of the time cleaning," she told them.

Neville glanced over at Ron.

"You were gone when we woke up. Where did you go?" he asked.

Ron shifted a little beside Hermione, unconsciously stroking Darcy's soft fur as he thought over his answer carefully.

"I had something to take care of in Berlin," was what he came up with. Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"I thought we were passed the whole 'let's lie to our friends' stage," she said sternly. Ron's ears tinged red. He looked at Neville and Luna, who also had expectant looks on their faces and sighed.

"Look, you need to keep this quiet. If Remus finds out what I was doing I'll never hear the end of it."

They all nodded and Ron took another deep breath. He pulled out his wand and waved it towards the kitchen so that the two in there would not hear what was going on.

"Okay, well… Voldemort was in Zurich."

"I thought you said you were in Berlin," Luna interrupted.

Hermione kept her eyes on Ron.

"He lied."

Ron winced a little at the harshness of her tone, but continued nonetheless.

"I went to Zurich to figure out what he was doing."

"You went to see Voldemort!" Hermione hissed. "Are you-"

"Crazy?" Ron offered.

"Stupid," she growled.

Ron held up his hand for her to stop.

"Look, Hermione. I've done worse over the past few months, so please just listen," he said. "I didn't go there to fight Voldemort. I went there to meet with a contact we had formed when we had stayed there."

Neville frowned.

"Why would that get you in trouble with Remus?" he asked, thoroughly confused.

For a moment Ron looked extremely hesitant, even afraid, to tell them what had happened in Zurich. After a moment of thought though, he decided that they ought to know. He carefully slid Darcy off of his lap before he reached up and rolled up his left sleeve.

All three of them jumped out of their seats and stepped away from him, looks of horror on their faces.

"YOU DIDN'T!" Hermione shrieked.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Neville yelped as Ron quickly covered up the mark on his arm. "Why the hell would you-"

"It's not a Dark Mark!" Ron shouted quickly, effectively shutting them up. They all just stared at him with disbelief in their eyes.

"How could you possibly think that we are stupid enough-"

"It's a tracker," Ron snapped, interrupting Hermione's harried rant. "It allows me to know where certain meetings are and it also allows me to get into a meeting if the time calls for it."

There was a momentary silence.

"What?"

"What's going on in here?" Tonks asked curiously, appearing at the door. "You four have been unusually quiet…" she drifted off when she saw the position in which everyone was standing. It was obvious to her that something bad was going on. Remus appeared behind her, frowning.

"What's going on?" he asked.

Ron looked almost desperate for the other three not to say anything, but Hermione was too upset to care about what Ron thought.

"Ron took the Dark Mark when he went to Zurich," she whispered, staring at Ron with a searching look in her eyes.

Remus pulled out his wand and Ron made a move for the stairs, but the older man's threatening tone.

"Don't you dare move," Remus growled in a voice that clearly was not his own. Ron froze against the wall, eyes wide with fear of what Remus might do to him. Tonks grabbed Luna and Hermione, tugging them for the kitchen door while motioning for Neville to follow.

"Look, you all _really_ don't understand," Ron muttered. "This _isn't_ a Dark Mark. It's a tracker!"

"Shut up!" Remus hissed, moving over to Ron quickly and binding his hands behind his back with magical rope. He then sat Ron down in a chair. "Say one more word and I'll make you wish you'd stayed in Romania."

"But-"

"Shut up!"

Remus pulled up Ron's sleeve and growled. A clear dark print of a skull and snake was clearly defined on Ron's pale skin, which was red around the area of the tattoo. Remus grabbed it and Ron let out a yelp of pain.

At that moment Hermione burst through kitchen door, followed by Tonks.

"Stop it! Let him explain," she snapped before faltering upon seeing the mark on Ron's arm. "Oh my God…"

"It's real," Tonks gasped. "Ron, how could you-"

"It's not a Dark Mark! I keep telling you that!"

"Then what the hell is it?" Remus demanded. "And don't lie to me or I'll just keep you in here until the next full moon."

Tonks and Hermione paled at this statement and Ron immediately started talking.

"It's a tracker. Jacob Rainer gave it to me. He's an undercover Auror stationed in Zurich. He's been tracking a couple of big shot Death Eaters down there for a while. Well, Warner back in England had a dream about Rainer finding something big so they sent a message down to Harry and he sent me a letter. I decided to go check it out. When I got down there, Rainer said he'd found a way to track Death Eater meetings around Europe and it was this. It's almost the same as a real one, except I'm not connected with the others so they don't know that I have one. Now Dumbledore will know when a meeting is happening and where," Ron said quickly. "It'll also allow me to get into a meeting if the situation required it."

"And you _agreed _to this?" Tonks asked with a bit of disgust in her voice.

Ron looked over at her.

"We're running out of time! That's why Dumbledore let us come out here in the first place! We're running out of time! This is the only way to speed up the process and get more concrete answers!" he snapped angrily. "So if you want to kick my arse because I did what I felt was right, then fine, but I hope you understand that this was the only thing I _could_ do."

"You should have told me," Remus growled.

Ron snorted.

"Yeah, so you could tell me how much of an idiot I am and then lock me up in here," he retorted.

"You should be locked up," Remus snapped. "There is _no_ reason for you to get that thing!"

"I got it because it was the right thing to do!"

"You got it because you're trying to be a hero! Damn it, Ron, you need to stop trying to be like Harry and start thinking!"

"STOP IT!" Hermione shouted, tears coming to her eyes as she moved to be in front of Ron, who looked utterly shocked by what Remus had said. Tonks was just staring at the man, no words coming out of her mouth. Hermione shook her head at Remus. "How could you say something like that?"

The man's whole body seemed to collapse with shame and after a moment of staring at Hermione, he quickly left the room. Tonks turned to Hermione and Ron, who was still in his chair, staring at the spot Remus had just occupied.

"I'm so sorry, Ron," she whispered. "He didn't mean it."

She quickly unbound Ron before leaving the room. Hermione turned around and watched him as he stood up.

"Ron…"

"He's right."

The tears began to fall down her cheeks as she shook her head.

"No… Ron, no! He's not right," she said, grabbing his arms. "Ron, don't-"

"I'm always doing something stupid because I want to be like Harry-"

"NO!" Hermione bellowed. "Remus is wrong, Ron! Remus is wrong!"

"No he's not, Hermione. I'm never going to be-"

Hermione slapped him in the face, glaring up at him.

"Ronald Weasley, you listen to me, because I am only going to say this once," she snapped angrily. "Remus has never been more wrong about you. You are every bit as great as Harry! You are a hero!"

Ron shook his head, pulling away from her.

"Hermione, I'm not-"

She hit him again.

"Ron, if you say that one more time, I swear I'll kill you myself," she growled before launching herself at him and burying her face in his chest. "You are a hero," she whispered, looking up into his eyes. A small smile graced her face. "You've always been a knight in shining armor… ever since you rescued me from that troll…" She quickly pulled away from him, wiping at her eyes and taking a deep breath. "You just haven't realized it yet…"

Remus's words still seemed to haunt Ron as he stared at her so she leaned in and kissed his cheek. Her lips lingered on his skin much longer than necessary, telling him more than just the few words that came out of her mouth.

"Goodnight Ron," she whispered into his ear before moving past him and up the stairs, leaving him behind, feeling slightly better about the turn of events.

**A/N: Okay, _yes _Remus is acting a little out of character, but to be honest, everyone's on edge and Remus has been a bit stressed lately, worrying about all of them. People say a lot of things they don't really mean when they're upset. **

**Wesker888:** Well, there was a little storm. Don't worry though! There will be something bigger going on in a couple of chapters! You'll see!

**nextbestthing:** Yes, it was a little boring, but to be honest, there's not a lot going on in that house, well except until now! Hang in there for me! You've got a couple more chapters before you actually see something _really_ interesting. But I will keep you entertained!

**OzDust:** Well, I thought you guys were long overdue for a good H/G scene. It's all been around Hermione, so I figured you all needed a break! Hopefully I gave you some good R/Hr interaction!

**jenny:** No, none of that. He just meant that her loving him was why she was "dead" in England and also that her loving him would eventually get her killed. No visions. Just Harry being the pessimistic hero that he is.

**ronandmion4ever:** Well, no steamy snogging sessions, but she has forgiven him, so we're making progress!

**mgmve2008:** Don't worry, you'll find out what Stephanie saw in the next chapter. They definitely cleared some air, but Remus sort of added to the tension.

**wow60:** I think I was talking about your comment about Ginny being alive and Harry being with her. Sorry about that! No G/H action, but plenty of R/Hr action to make up for it.

**Fyre of the Funeral Pyre:** Well, I think the fact that you all thought Ginny was dead had something to do with it, but you know! :-)

**sballLuvr5:** Funny, yes, but a little hard on Harry. Study for that exam! and if you've already taken it, best of luck on your grade!

**tamara72:** Ginny and Harry are in their own little world of "Ron's not here right now". Deep down, I think she is worried about Hermione, Neville and Luna, but at the present moment, she wants to get as much time with Harry as she can before Devonshire or Ron ruin it and she has to return to the reality of Voldemort, Hermione and the others who keep Harry a bit... wired?

**Chapter Tease:**

_"Yeah, whatever, Harry," she said before getting back to the topic at hand. "We need to get wands for the other three… They might be coming back with Ron…" She then brightened up. "I think it's great that Ron's coming back though… Vi is starting to ask about him."_

_"Vi?" Devonshire asked curiously, catching the attention of Harry, who hadn't noticed what Ginny had said. Ginny blushed and sat straighter in her seat. _

_"Well… Vi is so much easier to say than Viorel and he prefers if I call him that anyway," she explained, returning back to her readings. _

_Harry snorted. _

_"Of course, the vampire would," he muttered. _

**YES! VAMPIRES! FINALLY!**

**(Nothing to do with Twilight, I promise!)**


	17. Beyond the Surface

_Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to error that counts. _**–Nikki Giovanni**

* * *

"It seems like things are going better," Harry concluded, reading a letter written by Ron. Harry looked up to Ginny to find her frowning.

"What?" he asked.

"He didn't mention Remus," she pointed out. "Do you think something happened?"

Harry shook his head, looking back down at the note.

"I don't think so," he said. "I'm just glad Hermione's forgiven him."

William Devonshire looked up from his newspaper and frowned.

"Does she not do that often?"

Ginny shook her head, opening one of the many textbooks she had on the dining room table they were sitting at. Harry couldn't help but think of Hermione when he saw her jot down a few notes. Even though they were gone from Hogwarts, Ginny still insisted that they learn a few things that Snape and Warner would have taught them. Harry focused on the DADA books while Ginny stuck to Potions textbooks. She actually had a few potions brewing in the basement of the house they happened to staying in.

"You don't understand Hermione. She may be upset at us for a couple of weeks, but in Ron's case, she normally wouldn't let him forget this for a _very_ long time," she explained, flipping a page. "Those two are _always _fighting. You see, Hermione loves Ron-"

"Ginny!"

She shot Harry an 'are you serious' look.

"Harry, you should be the last person standing up to the defense of two teens who won't admit their feelings for each other," she snapped pointedly before turning back to Devonshire, who looked amused by the whole exchange. "_Anyway_," she stressed as if Harry had not spoken. "Hermione loves Ron and Ron loves Hermione, but they haven't told each other yet and by the looks of things, have no interest in telling each other at the present moment. I thought Hermione would have forgiven Harry and I quickly _just_ to spite Ron."

Devonshire raised an eyebrow, glancing over at Harry, who looked thoroughly put out by Ginny's previous comment.

"All four of you sound like you have issues when it comes to relationships," he said with a smile. Ginny smiled, leaned over the table and kissed Harry on the cheek.

"Harry's fine once he's not in his whole 'save the world' mode. I hate that mode," she added somewhat bitterly. "It's a pain in the arse." Harry rolled his eyes at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Ginny snorted and snatched the letter out of his hand, looking over it quickly.

"Yeah, whatever, Harry," she said before getting back to the topic at hand. "We need to get wands for the other three… They might be coming back with Ron…" She then brightened up. "I think it's great that Ron's coming back though… Vi is starting to ask about him."

"Vi?" Devonshire asked curiously, catching the attention of Harry, who hadn't noticed what Ginny had said. Ginny blushed and sat straighter in her seat.

"Well… Vi is so much easier to say than Viorel and he prefers if I call him that anyway," she explained, returning back to her readings.

Harry snorted.

"Of course, the vampire would," he muttered.

"Harry," she warned, taking a few notes from her Potions book.

Harry shook his head.

"I have nothing against Viorel," he said. "He's an unpleasant necessity to us gaining the vampire alliance and I've accepted that… I just don't see why you have to start giving them all nicknames."

Ginny sighed, throwing down her quill.

"_Fine_, I'll call him Viorel…" She grimaced at the word. "Viorel. It sounds so…"

"Romanian?" Devonshire offered, looking over today's paper casually. Ginny smiled.

"No. It just sounds wrong. Especially for someone like him."

"Someone like him?"

Ginny rolled her eyes and stood up.

"Oh for goodness sakes! If I'm going to be cross-examined for every little thing I say about the vampires, then I'm leaving," she muttered, gathering up her textbooks and notes. She gave Harry a kiss on the brow before stalking out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Devonshire asked.

"The wand shop," Ginny snapped over her shoulder, causing the two to laugh as the front door slammed shut. Harry leaned back in his chair, a smirk on his face. Devonshire observed this with amusement.

"You're rather pleased with yourself, aren't you?"

Harry nodded.

"Yes. Yes I am."

Devonshire rolled his eyes and picked up the letter.

"When did Ron say he was coming back?"

Harry shrugged.

"He didn't," Harry said.

Devonshire looked up at Harry.

"Have you received any news from England?"

Harry shook his head.

"Dumbledore wants to send as few posts as possible. We've already exceeded our two a month," Harry explained. "I don't want to risk getting detected by nearby Death Eaters when we're so close to an alliance with the vampires."

Devonshire nodded.

"I just need to know because I should probably be returning to England soon but I can't leave you two alone for a couple of obvious reasons. I have a feeling something big is about to go down in England once Voldemort finishes his big meeting in Zurich," he said. "Moody's going to need as many Aurors as he can get."

Harry frowned.

"What do you think will happen?"

Devonshire leaned his head to the side, his eyes flickering up to Harry's scar.

"You haven't… _felt_ anything have you?"

Harry reached up and touched his scar, wincing a little at the pain.

"It burns, but that's all. Ever since I got out of England I've managed to keep Voldemort out of my head," he said darkly. "Maybe that's a bad thing…"

Devonshire shook his head.

"No, Harry. That's not a bad thing. It's a very good thing. You have enough to worry about, with Ginny and those vampires. Voldemort in your head would only put more pressure on you than necessary. You've made a lot of improvements because you're away from England… I hope that doesn't go away once it's time to return."

Harry looked down at his hands.

"I hope not either."

Devonshire watched Harry for a moment.

"It's hard for her, isn't it?" When Harry gave him a questioning look, he pointed to the door. "Ginny. It's hard for her, dealing with everything you have to go through."

Harry's eyes darkened and he nodded.

"She thinks I'll break up with her when we go back to England."

"Will you?"

Harry remained silent for the longest time, Devonshire's question circling in his mind for a while before he answered.

"I don't know…" he whispered, sighing. "I don't want her to get hurt and I'm the worse person to be hanging around if you're looking for safety."

"But she loves you."

Harry stiffened a little and looked down at his hands.

"Yeah… that's the problem."

* * *

"Ron… Ron, we need you to come down," Tonks whispered, poking her head into Ron's room. "It's important."

Ron nodded and got out of bed. He followed Tonks into to living room where Remus, Hermione, Luna and Neville sat. Ron hesitated at the door.

"If this is an intervention-"

Tonks held up a letter.

"Nothing of the sort," she cut in, glancing over at Remus, who was determinedly avoiding Ron's eyes as well as the nasty looks Hermione was sending his way. "We don't have much time," she added in a tone that seemed unlike her. Ron could tell that something was going wrong so he fell silent and nodded. Tonks sighed and looked down at letter on the coffee table.

"It's from Dumbledore. The Minister of Magic and the Prime Minister of England have been killed."

"What?!" everyone except Remus exclaimed.

"How could that happen?" Neville demanded. "I thought they were under protection or something."

Remus shook his head.

"The Minister was killed at his house last night. Dumbledore sent the message as soon as possible to tell us that we have four hours to get back to England," he explained before pointing at the television. "The Prime Minister's assassination has been all over the news since this morning."

Hermione frowned.

"Four hours? What do you mean?"

Tonks looked up at Remus.

"The Ministry's calling a state of emergency. All magical transport in and out of England is being shut down completely in four hours to prevent the assassin from leaving," she whispered. "Muggle England is doing a complete security sweep, which means all transportation will be monitored by police, especially the flights and trains going in and out of England."

Ron shook his head.

"If the assassin was smart he would have left already," he said. "Why would they bother shutting down the transportation… unless…"

Remus nodded.

"The Minister's house has a tag on it. Anyone not belonging to the Minister's personal house staff has to give a special code. The security was breached so the assassin was tagged. He hasn't left England yet."

"Why not? Why would he stay?" Luna asked curiously.

Ron finally understood.

"Because Voldemort knows that they're going to shut down the transportation. He's bringing as many as possible _into_ England before that time, not moving them out," Ron explained. "It was a trap."

Remus nodded again.

"Voldemort knew that murdering the Minister of Magic and the Prime Minister would send England into a panic. He's trapping the people in, which is why Dumbledore needs Tonks and I back," he said before turning to Neville, Hermione and Luna. "You three have a choice. Go to Romania and continue the work Harry's been doing, or come back to England. You need to decide quickly because we're running out of time."

All eyes went to Ron. If they went back to England, who knew how long it would take before they saw each other again. _If_ they ever saw each other again…

Hermione seemed the most torn of all. She had tears in her eyes as she stared down at her hands, trying to decide on the right choice.

Could she bear to be divided from Ron for that long again? Could she bear to be away from her parents so long as well, with the danger so high?

Luna was the first to speak.

"How long will the shut down be?" she asked in a very careful tone. Remus shook his head.

"We don't know," he said sadly. "Planning this must have taken months, perhaps even years. Voldemort knew what he was doing by killing both the Muggle Prime Minister and the Minister of Magic, Luna. The shut down was put in place in case something like that every happened, but that was a freak accident sort of thing. Voldemort knew that if he planned this properly, he could shut down London for weeks."

"Weeks!"

Tonks shook her head quickly, placing a hand on Remus' arm.

"That's just an extreme. Usually something like this goes away in five to six days… it's just that… if Voldemort starts attacking muggles within this time, the shut down could go on a bit longer, which is why you three need to decide if you want to come back with us or go with Ron quickly," she said, eyes on Remus.

Ron folded his arms over his chest.

"Has Harry been notified?"

Remus shook his head.

"Dumbledore thinks it would be better for Harry not to know until the shutdown is complete. The moment Harry finds out, he'll want to go back to England and we don't think he's going to be ready," he explained cautiously. "You can tell him later."

Ron did not respond, understanding Remus's meaning clearly. Hermione glanced up at Ron, unsure of how to decide.

On one hand, she wanted nothing more than to go back to England and see her parents, but then again, she had spent months wanting to see Ron so badly that to leave now would only add to the pain that had just started to go away.

"If we go to Romania, what would we be doing?" she asked quietly, moving her eyes to the floor so that she would not have to see Ron's astounded gaze. He hesitated for a moment.

"Um… we're not going to be staying in Romania much longer. Just until we convince the vampires that it's not worth it allying with Voldemort… I really don't know after that," he said honestly. It was all up to Harry ultimately. Hermione could hear it in his voice.

"Oh…"

Neville glanced between Luna and Hermione before he answered.

"I'll go to Romania with Ron… to help out Harry," he added.

Ron nodded, looking at Luna and Hermione.

"Well?" he asked timidly.

Luna and Hermione exchanged glances before Luna nodded.

"We'll go as well…" she said reluctantly. Remus sighed and nodded slowly.

"Okay… well, Tonks and I are already packed to go. We'll be leaving now… Ron, you and the others should leave soon as well. I was in town this morning and there are at least three Death Eaters down there. They won't find you immediately, but give it three more days and they'll know you're up here," he said, moving towards the front door. Tonks pulled out a small wooden doll and handed it to Ron as she moved to the door with Remus.

"Use this as your portkey. It's been charmed to disintegrate the moment you arrive at your destination," she said quickly. At the front door were three duffle bags and Remus was just releasing an owl. He turned to the four teenagers in the hallway.

"Once the shutdown is complete, we won't be in contact any more. Stephanie Warner will be able to keep an eye on you, but you can't send any owls or Floo," he told Ron before pointing to Neville, Luna and Hermione. "Has Harry been informed that they might be coming back with you?"

Ron nodded.

"I wrote him a letter last night. He should have gotten it by now."

Remus nodded, pulling out a small porcelain doll.

"Well, we need to be going. We don't have much time," he said. He glanced over at Ron and hesitated before pulling the young man to the corner. "Look Ron, about what I said last night-"

Ron shook his head.

"It's okay, Remus," Ron cut in, not wanting to relive that bad moment. "Really, I'm fine… I should have told you."

An understanding past between the two and Remus nodded, holding out his hand and shaking Ron's hand. "Good luck, Ron."

"You too, Remus," Ron replied. Tonks gave them each hugs before she wrapped one arm around Remus's waist and then grabbed two bags, placing one of them on her shoulder so she could hold the other with her hand.

"Bye!" she exclaimed before the portkey yanked them away. The moment they were gone, Luna, Hermione and Neville turned to Ron, who backed up a little.

"We need to pack," he said quickly. "If there are Death Eaters in the town, we have to get out of here as soon as possible."

Hermione took a deep breath, hoping she did not regret her decision to stay.

"Romania?" Luna whispered.

Ron glanced over at her and nodded slowly.

"Romania," he responded. Luna and Neville turned and headed towards the stairs. Ron was about to follow, but Hermione stopped him.

"Ron," she called. He stopped and turned to face her.

"Yes?"

She bit her lip, hesitating for a moment before she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"Please don't make me regret this," she whispered into his neck, causing the hairs on his nape to stand on end. She felt his grip around her waist tighten slightly.

"I won't."

**A/N: Okay, I know some of you are wanting some action sequences, but hopefully the next couple of chapters will make up for it before the real actions scenes. Yes, there will be vampires in the next chapter for some of you who are dying to see them. But please don't try to compare them to any sort of book or movie you've seen. It'll only make my job more difficult to please you all. **

**jenny:** No, nothing about protecting her. Well, there was a little thing in there about protecting her, but it was more to protect themselves I suppose. Darcy is adorable! There's a small description in chapter 6 about what an older one looks like. Basically a ferret or weasel with wings and a long tail. Cuter though. Much cuter! Don't worry about the other characters, they'll start to bloom out later. I'm just trying to get Ron and Hermione to be friends again.

**mgmve2008:** You'll find out who Vi is in the next chapter, I promise!

**Fyre of the Funeral Pyre:** Correct. The mark he does have looks like the Dark Mark though. He'll know when the meetings are, but he's not obligated to go because he's not connected to them. Does that make sense?

**nextbestthing:** It could be an explanation. Everyone will be together in the next chapter, so be prepared!

**Spicysweetchica101:** I think they're not worried because they didn't know how angry Hermione really was (though they could guess) _and_ they knew that by the time she arrived to Transylvannia, she would have taken out all of her anger on Ron, which she did.

**Trude:** Thanks!

**wow60:** A little less action and a lot more attitude, but do not fear! Next chapter there are bigger things to worry about. Like the vampires.

**DRAMIONE4EVA15:** Thank you.

**Chapter Tease: **

_"What will happen if we make sudden movements?" Luna asked curiously, peering down the dark driveway they had just walked up. _

_Ron pulled up the hair from the back of his neck and they all gasped. _

_"Ron," Hermione whispered. She could not help but reach out and touch the raised scar on the back of his neck. "What happened?"_

_Ron stepped away from her, keeping his back to them. _

_"I moved," he grumbled before tapping the door with his wand and opening it. "Wait here."_


	18. At Least We Made It This Far

**A/N: As you've probably realized by now, I like Relient K. Very awesome band!**

_Oh and I guess we made it  
Or at least made it this far  
And it all looks smooth from here  
Oh and in a future day there may be waves but I must say the skies  
Have never looked so clear  
Oh and I guess we made it  
Cause it ain't far to go from here_

**At Least We Made It This Far by Relient K**

* * *

Ginny entered the house a few hours later, carrying a couple of bags. She shook the snow from her hat as she went, shivering a little as she shed her coat. She walked to the staircase, ignoring the door closing behind her and the footsteps that headed for the kitchen.

"Harry! Vi is here with Roxy!" she shouted up the stairs before going into the kitchen where two tall people were standing.

One, a female, had beautiful porcelain skin andbreathtaking features with dead black eyes that seemed to bore into your soul. She had a long slender body with perfect curves that accentuated her startling and extremely fatal beauty. She looked amazing with her long flowing black hair and high cheek bones. An angel or goddess if you did not know what she actually was. She was unreal and it made Ginny somewhat self-conscious to be around her. Even what she was wearing, despite the fact that it was clearly older than even the ancient house they were in, seemed to declare a heavenly body. Contrary to the wintry weather outside, she wore a flowing summer dress with a halter back and elegant white slippers. It effectively hid how morbidly pale she was. If it were not for the fact that the woman happened to be half veela _before_ she became a vampire, Ginny would have been extremely jealous. Also she was fun to hang around and unlike the other vampires who were also quite attracted to Ginny, this beauty found made light out of Ginny's unwanted position.

The tall female had a ghost of a smile on her face as the man she was with whispered something to her. He was also tall, but his beauty was slightly more natural and tolerable. Though he still had the same dead eyes and unnatural pale skin, he held himself like a normal person rather than the angelic presence beside him. He had long shaggy blonde hair and a brilliant white smile that had tasted its share of necks. However, unlike his companion, he wore a long-sleeved black shirt and matching black slacks that made his skin glow.

Roxanne Profis and Viorel Dimitru.

Vampires to eternity.

Roxanne moved away from Viorel to stand beside Ginny, who leaned against the kitchen counter.

"Harry does not appreciate our nicknames," she said with a hint of laughter in her heavenly voice.

Ginny frowned.

"Why would you say that?"

Viorel pointed up stairs.

"He started muttering when you mentioned them," he explained in a deeper bass, though there was still laughter tinkering in his voice. Ginny blushed, forgetting that the two had much better hearing than she did.

"Right," she murmured. "He's just being silly."

"Am I?"

Roxanne did not turn around, but Ginny did upon hearing Harry.

"Oh… you're here already," she whispered. Harry glanced at the two vampires warily.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked.

Roxanne pointed to Harry's scar.

"There are meetings going on between the Death Eaters and our kind," she whispered. Though the mood was serious, it was impossible not to be enthralled by Roxanne's soothing voice. "Ozera sent us to keep an eye on you."

Harry frowned.

"Keep an eye on us?"

Viorel pointed to his arm.

"Ozera knows about the tracker one of you placed on their arm. He does not want you disrupting the meetings," he explained cordially.

Harry shook his head.

"Ron's the one who has the mark," he replied. "We didn't even know until you mentioned it."

Viorel nodded.

"Well, we will still stay until the meetings are over. It would be better for you anyway."

Ginny bit her lip.

"Is Ozera still considering joining the Death Eaters?" she asked, looking up at Roxanne, who grew still.

"Ozera has yet to come to any decision. It is a difficult situation, Ginerva," she said softly. "We have pleaded your case with the Council, but with the Death Eaters offering more…" Here she stopped, her coal eyes flickering over to Ginny's neck before she moved over to Viorel. "It would be better if we did not discuss the nature of the promises the Death Eaters have made."

Harry glanced over at Ginny, who had noticed the look she had seen from many of the vampires she had been around. He motioned for her to come and she carefully eased into his arms.

"Um… we actually wanted to talk to you anyway. We need you to tell Ozera that Ron might be coming back with three others," Harry told the two vampires, his grip on her waist tightening a bit. "They're friends of ours so…"

Viorel grinned a perfect set of sharp teeth.

"On our best behavior," he finished. Ginny smiled as well.

"Not that you two are never on your best behavior," she added.

Viorel moved from his spot at the counter and approached the two carefully.

"Now that that's taken care of," he said, holding out his hand. "Ginerva, you need to show me the potions you've been working on. I can smell them from here and one of them smells divine."

Ginny glanced up at Harry while taking Viorel's cold hand. He gave her another squeeze before letting her go with him. She gave Harry a quick smile before turning to Viorel completely.

"That must be the blood replenishers," she said, leading him out of the kitchen and to the basement. Roxanne observed Harry with amusement.

Though the vampires tolerated Harry, Ron and Devonshire, they did not enjoy spending as much time with them as they did with Ginny, for whom they had a very unique attraction to. Roxanne however, had grown to accept Harry as a necessity to Ginny and talked to him more openly than Viorel did.

"She likes it when you do that, you know," she whispered in her lovely soprano voice. Harry was immediately taken in and he frowned.

"What?"

Roxanne raised a long slender finger to the door.

"Ginerva… she likes it when you hold her like that. I can tell because her heart flutters and her pulse quickens," she explained lightly, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. "You, on the other hand, just like being near her."

Harry blushed slightly and moved to sit down at the kitchen table. He looked up and was almost surprised to see Roxanne sitting across from him, her head tilted to the side and a knowing smile on her face. He had to continuously remind himself that these two had a knack for popping up out of nowhere. It was sort of like apparition, except, like house elves, they were not constrained to using wands. They would become surrounded by this black mist and then self-implode, disappearing and then reappearing the same way in a different spot. It was unnerving to watch, even when you'd seen it hundreds of times.

"You love her," she whispered.

Harry shifted a little and shrugged.

"Yeah, so…" he muttered, uncomfortable with the conversation. He immediately noticed the sadness that filled her black eyes and he frowned. "What?"

He stiffened when she reached out across the table in one fluid motion and ran a cold hand down his neck, her eyes growing when she felt his pulse quicken. She quickly withdrew her hand, staring into his troubled green eyes.

"I wish I could do that again," she whispered.

"Do what?"

Roxanne looked down at her hands. If she had been alive, she would have blushed from embarrassment.

"Blush… feel my heart," she whispered. "It must be amazing to feel your heart pound in your chest when the one you love is close by…" She then laughed. It was a pleasant sounding laugh, even though it was a bit bitter. "Sometimes, when Viorel and I are alone, I wish I could hear his heart beat…"

Harry could tell that she desperately wanted to talk about this so he talked.

"How old were you when you…"

"Changed?"

He nodded silently and she shrugged.

"I was twenty-three, seventy years ago," she answered, looking up at him. "I was like Ginerva… accepted… my brother and I lived in the Ukraine with a coven. I had everything. A boyfriend, a home… a family… but there was an accident. My brother and one of the coven members got into a fight… he was killed. I tried to stop them, but they attacked me. Viorel and a couple of friends were coming to visit and he saved me."

Harry glanced out the kitchen door, wondering about Viorel's beginning. Roxanne must have sensed his question because she started speaking again.

"Viorel hated his life before," she whispered before laughing bitterly. "The eighteenth century was a very different time for people living in France… His father was abusive and his mother was… _crazy_ for lack of a better word… he never had friends, never felt love, never had anything… that's why he doesn't understand what I miss."

Harry watched her, feeling sad for her. He understood how she felt. Wanting to feel something, but somehow stuck because of something bigger… wanting to love, but never able to do so fully…

"At least you know he loves you," he murmured. "At least you two can love each other."

Roxanne smiled.

"Yes, but we have _eternity_ to love each other, Harry. When life has no end you have no need to be afraid… but when your life is as short as yours, Harry… I would be more afraid that it would end before I even had the chance to tell Viorel that I loved him than I would be of hurting him with my death…"

"You can't die."

Roxanne stood up, walked around the table and leaned down so that their noses were almost touching.

"But you can," she whispered, her cold breath filling his body with new life. "Don't waste the precious moments you have with fear."

"What are you two doing?"

Roxanne, having known that they were being watched, grinned and moved quickly over to Viorel, who was standing at the kitchen door with Ginny. She crossed over to Harry, who still seemed a bit out of sorts after Roxanne's close proximity.

"Are you okay? She didn't paralyze you with her beauty did she?" Ginny asked sarcastically.

Roxanne rolled her eyes.

"Ginerva, I'm not _that_ beautiful."

Ginny snorted, pulling Harry up to his feet.

"Yes you are," she said indignantly. "And it's an insult to say otherwise. Both of you are beautiful."

Harry finally snapped back to reality and frowned.

"If they're beautiful, what does that make me?" he asked.

Ginny grinned and kissed him quickly on the lips.

"Devastatingly attractive," she whispered against his lips before pulling away to take Roxanne by the hand. "Now, you and I must find Devonshire. He always _loves_ seeing you."

Viorel and Harry walked after the excited redhead and the ultra calm ravenhead.

"This should be interesting."

* * *

It was snowing when Ron approached the front door of the large house and turned to face the three behind him.

"Okay, so there _may_ be a couple of vampires in here," he told them.

Hermione frowned.

"They come _here_," she hissed.

Ron nodded.

"They like to check up on Ginny as much as possible and there's some sort of meeting going on between them and the Death Eaters at the Asylum," he added.

"The _Asylum?_" Hermione asked incredulously. Ron snorted.

"It might as well be one… depending on who you are of course," he added. Neville frowned.

"How do you know about the meeting?"

Ron held up his left arm.

"Mark, remember," he muttered before turning to the door. "Just, don't make any sudden movements until they become used to your scent."

"What will happen if we make sudden movements?" Luna asked curiously, peering down the dark snowy driveway they had just walked up.

Ron pulled up the hair from the back of his neck and they all gasped.

"Ron," Hermione whispered. She could not help but reach out and touch the raised scar on the back of his neck. "What happened?"

Ron stepped away from her, keeping his back to them.

"I moved," he grumbled before tapping the door with his wand and opening it. "Wait here."

They waited as he disappeared into the house. There was a brief silence and then a squeal that was easily identified as Ginny.

"They're here!" they heard her shout before they heard someone come bounding towards the door. Suddenly an excited Ginny appeared at the door.

"AH!" she squealed, lunging at all of them and hugging them each before they could protest and quickly ushered them in out of the snow. "Oh my goodness! I can't believe you're actually here! I told Devonshire that you three would never come after Ron's letter, but here you are! Oh you look hungry! Ron, you prick, didn't you feed them before you left or have you and Remus been starving them?"

When they arrived to the kitchen, Harry and Ron were talking quietly in the corner with a man Hermione thought looked strangely familiar. Ginny sat them down at the kitchen table and that's when they noticed the goddess and the supermodel standing in the corner, watching Ginny with _way_ too eager eyes.

"Ginerva, I must advise you to calm down," the handsome man said with a strained bass tone. "You're adorable, but if your pulse goes any higher we won't be able to help ourselves."

Ginny immediately stopped bouncing around, sitting down between Hermione and Neville and taking a couple of deep breaths while sending the two in the corner an apologetic look.

"Sorry, I'll stop," she said quickly before turning to her friends. "Okay, well you don't have to tell me how you've been because I know you've been beating Ron up for the past week or so. Oh Luna, I'm _so_ sorry about all of this! I'm sure Ron's already said this, but we are so sorry! We never meant for you to be there and Hermione! I know you've been through hell and I know you probably want to smack me right now, but I just need you to know that I've missed you terribly! All of you! Oh Neville, how are you?"

Hermione, Luna and Neville just stared at Ginny, trying to catch up with her ramblings while Harry approached the table.

"Hey guys," he said timidly.

For a moment they all just stared, but then Hermione and Luna broke down into tears, hugging Ginny, who equally broke down into tears. This seemed to go as far as the two pale people in the corner could take. They glanced over at Ron and Devonshire.

"We'll be outside until this is over," the woman said before they seemed to melt away into their surroundings. Ron sighed and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes.

"I'm so tired," he whispered.

Devonshire snorted.

"I can imagine."

Ron's eyes cracked open.

"No, you can't."

* * *

It took over four hours to calm everyone down. In that time, Ginny and Harry were thoroughly berated by all three of the new arrivals. Hermione took up most of the time, a good two hours, by screaming at the both of them. Ron enjoyed that part. Luna and Neville each took an hour for themselves, also ripping the very ashamed couple a new one.

Though all three of them had had time to calm down after their arrival, things were still a bit tense. Other than that, though, things had gone back to normal.

Ginny sat between Luna and Hermione, smiling.

"I'm just glad that you're all okay! When we heard about the accident, we wanted to come, but two of us had to stay behind, so Ron went," she said, stroking Darcy's soft fur. The little skyfox had appeared out of Hermione's bag shortly after they had arrived, squealing something terrible because it was hungry. Ginny had immediately taken a liking to the little creature while Harry thought it was annoying.

Neville looked up from his cup of tea.

"Because of the vampires?"

Ginny's eyes widened.

"Oh! I almost forgot about them!"

She got up to get them but by then they had already appeared, a black blur at first but then they seemingly materialized at the door to the living room, smiling at Ginny's attempt.

"Don't bother, Ginerva, we heard," the beautiful woman said. Hermione couldn't help but feel extremely self-conscious around her. It was like forth year all over again, except this woman's beauty was completely unmatched. It was like she had fallen out of heaven.

Luna, however, did not seem to notice this fact.

"Are you going to introduce us to your friends, Ginny?" she asked lightly, causing Ron, Harry and Devonshire to snort. Ginny shot them looks before smiling again.

"Neville, Hermione, Luna, this is Roxanne Profis and Viorel Dimitru," she told them. "But I prefer to call them Roxy and Vi."

Roxanne grinned at all of them, showing off her bleach white sharp teeth.

"Pleased to meet all of you," she said. "Please don't be offended if we keep our distance for a while. We must become accustomed to your scent before we can come any closer."

Hermione turned to Ron.

"I thought you said they didn't drink human blood," she snapped accusingly. Ron sighed and pointed to the two vampires in the room.

"Some of them don't… the ones who happened to be… _attracted_ to Ginny do," he corrected.

Viorel reached out and touched Ginny's arm.

"Attracted? Is that what they call it?"

The three new arrivals, however, had other things on their mind.

"What's going on here anyway?" Neville asked. "With the vampires I mean."

Ginny glanced over at Ron.

"Well, we're trying to convince them to help us out instead of help Voldemort," she explained. "We're still going through discussions."

Hermione frowned.

"Why would the vampires help out Voldemort?" she asked, looking over to Viorel and Roxanne. "Not to offend you or anything, but he's not necessarily the best choice."

Viorel shook his head.

"We are not interested in good or evil, Hermione," he said, startling her. She did not remember giving him her name. He smiled at her surprise. "We have very good hearing, Ms. Granger and Ginerva was _very_ loud," he added, casting an amused glance in Ginny's direction. "But to the point, vampires, because of our… _status_ in life, we have seen both good and evil triumph with minimal affect on us."

Luna glanced over at Harry.

"Then how are you going to convince them?"

Harry shrugged.

"We play to their interests- ow!" he gasped, looking down at his foot to see Darcy looking up at him with wide blue eyes. Harry frowned while Hermione got up and snatched the little guy before Harry had a chance to say anything less than appropriate.

"Sorry, Harry," she muttered, holding Darcy up to her face. "You don't bite people," she told him. The skyfox squeaked playfully, flapping his small wings and wriggling around in her hands. Hermione sighed and placed him down on her lap, holding him carefully.

"Interests?" Neville repeated, getting the conversation back on track.

"Blood."

This came from Roxanne.

"The Death Eaters are offering us… _opportunities _for a bigger supply," she stressed. "You offer less enticing promises."

"Then why haven't you sided with the Death Eaters?" Hermione could not help but ask.

Devonshire pointed to Ginny.

"Because of Ginny."

Hermione frowned.

"What is it about Ginny that they find so interesting, no offense," she added to Ginny, who shrugged.

"Don't worry. I didn't understand it either until they explained it to me," she said. "You see, one out of every five thousand people have a blood scent that is…" Here she hesitated, unsure of how to explain the unusual circumstance.

"Appealing to vampires," Viorel finished. "So appealing that we do everything in our power _not_ to drink it just so we can smell it. They are actually revered because of their scarcity. They call it _sânge dragoste nebună_, which is roughly translated as a blood infatuation."

Hermione pulled a sickened face.

"That's disgusting," she whispered.

Ron snorted, attracting the attention of all of them.

"Well, it helps when you get attacked," he muttered.

"What happened anyway?" Neville asked, pointing to Ron's neck. "To you."

Devonshire pointed to Ron and Harry.

"When they arrived to Transylvania, I had already located a coven that would get us in to see the Council. I was told that the coven did not drink human blood, but when we arrived, they saw Ron first and attacked," he explained, pointing to Viorel. "They stopped when they caught a whiff of Ginny on Harry's jacket. They demanded to see her immediately and since then, we haven't had a problem."

Neville pointed to the two vampires.

"They attacked Ron?"

Roxanne looked a little put out by the phrase.

"Attack says we had the intent to _kill_ him quickly. We disabled him," she clarified.

"With the intent to kill him later," Viorel added.

Neville, Luna and Hermione all shot looks at Ron, who shrugged.

"Vampires don't like to beat around the bush with these things," he explained. Devonshire noticed Luna yawn and pointed at the three.

"You three should go to bed. We'll discuss this in the morning when you're rested," he said.

Hermione frowned.

"We're fine-"

Devonshire eyed the vampires in the corner.

"You may be fine, but if you three stay down here any longer, I have a feeling _those_ two will take the liberty in _disabling_ you," he said, making Roxanne and Viorel smile. Hermione's eyes widened.

"Oh."

Devonshire stood up.

"I'll show you to your rooms."

The three reluctantly stood up and went with Devonshire, but not before giving Ginny and Harry a couple more hugs. Luna even offered Ron a comforting hug while Neville nodded a quick goodnight. Hermione just stared at him with hesitation before leaving. Then they were gone up the stairs. That was when a weird noise escaped Roxanne's lips while Viorel tried not to laugh.

"What?" Harry asked, sitting back down and rubbing his eyes.

"The blonde one," Roxanne said with a giggle. "She's rather amusing."

"Amusing?" Ron asked with a raised eyebrow.

Viorel shook his head.

"Her pulse quickens at the strangest things, is all," he told them as he and Roxanne went to sit down beside Ginny. Ron rolled his eyes.

"I forgot how much I missed your humor," he muttered.

Ginny looked over at her brother.

"Did Remus and Tonks go back to England?" she asked, ignoring the familiar start of a fight between the two. Ron went stiff and he nodded.

"That's what I need to talk to you about. There's been a Shutdown."

"Shutdown?" Harry asked.

Ron nodded.

"England has been magically shut down. Someone killed the Minister of Magic _and_ the Prime Minister."

The rest of the night was spent updating Harry, Ginny and Devonshire on what Ron had gleaned from Remus before his departure earlier that morning.

**A/N: Yes! Finally you guys get to see the vampires! I hope you guys enjoyed this one. I know some of you were calling for a bloodbath between Hermione, Harry and Ginny, but I was a bit tired of all the anger, so I just described it. Hopefully that's good. I wanted to move past the whole tension thing. Well, there's still tension, but I wanted to move past the anger. **

**jenny:** You'll start seeing a lot more bad things going on, not just here, but in London as well.

**Fyre of the Funeral Pyre:** Now, you see what's up with the Chapter Tease. I hope you liked the entire thing!

**tamara72:** Well, she did, but I just didn't write about it. I hope that's okay. Two hours seems like a long one way conversation to write about.

**mgmve2008:** I think in the next chapter, you'll start to see the effects of the Shutdown. I have to read over it again, but I'm pretty sure you do. Don't worry, there's actually a whole chapter dedicated to London!

**jasmine-leigh: **Thank you for the compliments. Hopefully I'll be able to hold up tothose wonderful words! I'll try!

**nextbestthing:** Don't worry. The action will come! I just have to get over the red tape so to speak. I think the next chapter is actually when you start to see things break down, physically and emotionally.

**Trude:** Thanks!

**Spicysweetchica101:** Thank you!

**OzDust: **Well, buckle up, because as of this chapter, the tension is about to escalate.

**wow60: **You'll learn more about what's going on inside London later in the chapters, so don't worry. I've already gotten to it. As for Harry and Ginny, their relationship is going to be brought out a lot more in the next couple of chapters, along with Ron and Hermione. (But don't expect anything between Ron and Hermione).

**Chapter Tease:**

_"We're going to die."_

_They all looked at her. _

_"What?"_

_She looked up at them. _

_"The vampires are going to side with the Death Eaters," she whispered, panic now evident in her voice. "We're going to die!"_


	19. Daylight

_It is a fearful thing to love what death can touch._ **-Unknown**.

* * *

When Remus arrived at the Burrow the day after he and Tonks had gotten back to London, it was obvious that things were not good. He could hear Mrs. Weasley screaming at the top of her lungs profanities and other damnations as she stormed around the kitchen. Remus entered the kitchen quickly and was yanked to the side when Mrs. Weasley threw a pan at him.

"YOU! You lied to me too!" she screeched.

Remus looked over at Dumbledore and Moody, who were standing in the corner, watching the raging Weasley matriarch carefully.

"What's going on?" he asked quietly.

Moody pointed to Dumbledore.

"Albus decided that now was the appropriate time to tell Molly about her _undead_ daughter."

"Oh."

Molly rounded on them, glaring daggers.

"How could you _keep_ this from me?! My own _daughter! How could you make me believe that she was dead_," she hissed.

Arthur, who was still sitting at the kitchen table looking like he'd just been smacked, finally spoke.

"She's alive," he whispered. "Ginny's alive…"

Dumbledore nodded.

"It was of the utmost importance for as little people to know as possible, Arthur," he replied.

"But my daughter, Albus," Arthur snapped, standing up. "How could you lie to me like that?!"

"Because we knew you would never allow her to go with Harry and Ron if you knew," he said.

"Damn right, I wouldn't let her go!" Molly growled, still pacing the ground like a wild animal. "I would have locked her in her room and chained Ronald to his bed! How could you let them go like that! They're just kids!"

Remus shook his head.

"Molly, you know Harry stopped being a kid the since the Triwizard Tournament. And Ron and Ginny are growing up faster than you're giving them credit for. They're not children anymore, Molly. They're adults."

"But they're _my_ children, Remus!" she yelled. "You had no right going behind my back and-"

"Ron is of age, Molly! He doesn't need your permission and no matter how much you may act like it, you're not Harry's mother," Remus cut in. Molly looked like she was going to kill someone.

"I DON'T CARE! YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO-"

"Molly, Remus didn't know about it either," Albus interrupted. "So please do not yell at him."

There was a temporary silence before Arthur spoke again.

"Where are they then?" he asked.

Dumbledore shook his head.

"You know I can't tell you that," he said.

"Albus-"

"They're safe, Arthur," Remus cut in quickly. "I just got back from Germany and I left Ron with Hermione, Neville and Luna. They've moved since then, but they are fine."

Molly wiped at the tears that were still running down her cheeks.

"Ginny's okay?" she asked one more time.

Remus nodded.

"Yes she is. She's safe with an Auror and Harry."

Molly took a deep haggard breath and leaned into her husband, crying silently into his shoulder. Arthur looked over at Moody.

"What now?"

Moody sighed.

"We have to prevent anything from happening so that we can get the Shutdown charm deactivated," he responded grimly.

* * *

Ron sat down across the kitchen table from Harry the next afternoon. Devonshire had spent the entire morning and part of the afternoon explaining things to Hermione, Neville and Luna before he left for the rest of the day. He had a job to do in Bucharest. It was almost noon when the vampires finally came back from doing only God knows what. Ron had just come back from talking a little with Hermione.

"How was she?"

Ron looked up and shrugged.

"She's forgiven me…"

"But?"

Ron sighed.

"I don't know… she hasn't really talked to me since she found out about the Mark," he muttered. Harry sat up straighter.

"Can I see it?"

The moment Ron pulled back his sleeve, Harry could feel his scar burn a little more and he winced.

"Your scar's hurting again," Ron observed carefully while Harry leaned in and examined it.

"Did it hurt?"

Ron chuckled.

"Yeah, like hell," he said.

"But you can detect meetings?"

"Yeah… like the one last night."

"You knew about that one."

Ron nodded and Harry leaned back in his seat, sighing.

"Well… that'll definitely help us," he whispered. He watched Ron for a minute. "I knew she would forgive you eventually."

"You and Gin took bets?"

Harry laughed and sat up straighter in his seat.

"Yeah. She said a month. I said three."

"Was that because of a lack of faith on my part or Hermione's?"

"It better be on Ron's."

The two turned around to see Hermione standing at the door to the kitchen, carrying a sleepy looking Darcy. She pointed behind her.

"Do those two vampires hang around here often?" she asked as she came in and sat down beside Harry.

Harry snorted, eyeing the skyfox warily.

"Some others come around just to see Ginny, but yeah, they like to hang around. Mostly because they like the way the place _smells_," he said. Hermione nodded slowly, glancing behind her.

"They were in the study with Ginny," she explained. "I was going to stay with her, but after a while that guy… Viorel… he started inching towards me and I had to leave."

Ron snorted.

"Viorel does that to everyone. He's just playing around."

Hermione sat straighter in her seat, placing Darcy on the table.

"Well, it's creepy," she snapped. "I don't like the way they stare at me."

"Now you know how we've been feeling," Harry said. "But they're fine. They hunt in the city so that they can be around us."

Hermione nodded slowly, looking around the kitchen. A feeling of safety swept over her suddenly and it took her a moment to realize that it was because she was once again with her two best friends. She was safe again.

That's when the tears came to her eyes. Everything seemed to hit her like a tidal wave. Her awful behavior towards Ron. Her horrible feelings towards Harry. Everything.

It took them a moment to realize that she was crying silently in her seat, but when they did, Harry instantly pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly, while Ron moved around the table to kneel down beside her.

"Hermione, we're-"

"Stop saying that you're sorry!" she snapped, pulling away from Harry. She wiped at her tears angrily and took a deep calming breath. "I'm so _sick and tired_ of hearing that word! I don't want to be angry anymore! I don't want to think about what happened anymore! I'm here with you two!"

For a moment they just stared at her before she broke out into a new wave of sobs and threw herself at both of them, hugging them tightly.

"The next time you two leave me behind, I'm going to do Voldemort a favor and kill the both of you myself," she cried into their shoulders.

Harry couldn't help but laugh as he held her close.

"Deal."

Hermione sighed and pulled away, wiping at her eyes.

"Okay, well, since that's over," she whispered. Suddenly her stomach grumbled loudly, causing Ron and Harry to give her a funny look. "I'm hungry."

Ron snorted.

"I thought I was the only one with an appetite," he muttered.

Harry pointed to the seat.

"Okay, I'll get you something," he said. "You sit down."

Hermione smiled to herself as Harry moved around the kitchen, doing his best to please her. Ron sat down with her.

"You okay?" he asked. Hermione nodded.

"Of course, Ron," she whispered. "I'm just a little emotional."

Harry placed a plate full of food in front of her and sat down across from her.

"How was Hogwarts? Before you left?" he asked curiously. "Hagrid never really said much of anything."

Hermione ate some of her spaghetti before she spoke.

"Um… Gryffindor and Slytherin got into a fight," she whispered.

"WHAT?!"

Both boys stared at her with excitement in their eyes.

"What happened?" Harry asked quickly. "How?!"

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Some idiot threw something at a Slytherin player, a Beater hit a Quaffle at the student and then McLaggen threw a Quaffle at Malfoy," she told them. "The Slytherins came over to our stands and all hell broke loose."

"_McLaggen_?" Ron asked with a frown on his face. "They replaced me with _McLaggen_?"

Hermione shook her head at them.

"You two are the reason the fight started anyway! All year all anyone was interested in was where you two were! It was the most annoying thing in the world," she snapped. "Besides, you shouldn't be smiling. I got punched in the face and then Goyle fell on top of me. He nearly suffocated me."

Both boys paled.

"Oh… we're sorry, Hermione… we didn't know-"

Hermione shook her head.

"It's fine… McLaggen was expelled and both Houses were expelled from the Cup."

Ron pumped his fist into the air.

"Ha!" he yelled triumphantly. "He's gone!"

Hermione frowned but said nothing as she returned to her food.

"Anything else?" Harry asked.

"Besides the fact that I practically lost my mind while you two were running around Europe with Ginny? No, there's nothing else," she muttered under her breath, but Harry caught it.

"Hermione, I thought we were past that-"

Hermione set down her fork forcefully and turned to face the both of them.

"You know what, Harry. I don't know," she snapped. "I don't know if we're _ever_ going to be past this… you _left _me. _Sure_ I expected it from you, but that doesn't make it hurt less."

"Hermione, you know why we had to-"

Hermione held up her hand to stop him.

"Yes, I do and I completely understand… I'm just letting you two know that…" Tears came to her eyes and she stood up to distance herself from them. "I never had a lot of friends before I came to Hogwarts… for the past six years I have been attacked by chess pieces, a large three headed dog and a werewolf, petrified, and nearly killed all because my two best friends decided to rescue me from a troll because _one_ of them was being an arse. And after all of that, all I get is a letter from Remus telling me to stop writing… _stop writing?_"

"Hermione-"

"Okay, let's just get this over with," Hermione snapped, holding out her hand. "Either you _give_ me one of your wands _or_ I go back to the library, take _Ginny's _wand, curse her and then come back to kick both your arses. It's your choice."

Harry and Ron exchanged uncertain glances.

"Um… Hermione-"

"Ronald Weasley, I was being perfectly serious when I said I was going to kick your arse when I got a wand and I was very serious when I said that I was going to kick both _their_ arses as well. Now, give it here!"

For a moment everything was silent, but then Harry pulled out his wand hesitantly and handed it to Hermione. She smiled at them and then went to the door and peered out.

"Oh Ginny! Could you come in here for a moment? There's something I need to talk to you about!" Hermione called politely.

Ron and Harry exchanged another glance.

"She's so lovely in the afternoon," Ron muttered.

* * *

Hermione came back into the kitchen that evening, looking brighter and happier than ever. Ron and Harry followed her in, looking extremely uncertain about getting anywhere close to her. That afternoon had been unpleasant for the two of them and Ginny, who had no interest in getting in Hermione's way at the moment. Not that Hermione was angry anymore. Just the opposite. After she had cursed all three of them in very nasty ways, she had then proceeded to hug them. They were all slightly afraid of her.

"You okay now, Hermione?" Ron asked, sitting down in a seat. He winced a little and shifted so that it was not as uncomfortable. Harry did the same, crossing his legs trying to hide his discomfort.

Hermione smiled at him.

"Are you?"

Harry flinched.

"Of course he is," he muttered. "We're all okay, hopefully."

Hermione leaned over and took his hand.

"Don't worry, Harry. You won't have to worry about me hurting you anymore," she said.

"And vice versa," Ron said sincerely. Hermione felt tears come to her eyes again and she bit her lip, glaring at him.

"Will you two stop trying to make me cry," she snapped. "We've agreed to not hurt each other again. Can we please just leave it at that?"

"Ugh! Crying is the one human emotion I never enjoyed and certainly don't miss," came the heavenly voice of Roxanne, forcing the three to break apart and look over at the kitchen door to see the tall beautiful woman standing there with Ginny beside her. "It makes the heart act all funny," she said. Though she was obviously disgusted, the sound of her voice made anything she said sound like a choir of angels. That was one thing Hermione would have to get used to quickly.

"Sorry," she muttered, hiccupping and wiping at her tears. "It's just a little-"

"Emotional?" Ginny offered. For a moment she hesitated before approaching Hermione carefully, holding out her arms to give her friend a hug. To everyone's surprise, including Ginny's, Hermione grinned and gave her a great big hug.

Roxanne followed Ginny in and sat gracefully at the kitchen table. Her eyes flickered to Darcy, who had taken an interest to the woman with no scent. He sniffed at her curiously, pawing at her pale skin. Hermione hesitated when she saw Roxanne pick the little creature up and kiss its nose before placing it on her shoulder and looking over at Ron, who was watching Hermione with an unusual look in his eyes. She tilted her head to the side and grinned.

"Oh, Ronald, are you crying?" she asked jokingly. Ron shot her a look.

"Bite me," he snapped before straightening up, a disgusted look on his face. "On second thought, don't. I've had enough of your mouth to last me a lifetime."

"That's original," the vampire said before turning to Hermione. "You _really_ should stop crying. Your heart's all jumpy and it's making my promise not to bite you even that much harder to keep."

Hermione sniffed.

"You're very blunt, you know that," she observed. "And I'm not crying, just so you know."

Roxanne shrugged.

"When you deal with humans, you have to be or they'll misinterpret you and end up missing an artery or two."

Hermione pulled a revolted face but said nothing else about it. Instead, she moved past the table to the other side of the kitchen counter to place a little more distance between herself and Roxanne. Ginny sat down at the table, eyes on her brother, who was still staring at Hermione.

"So, you've forgiven us, Hermione?"

Hermione became still for a moment, playing with a piece of loose thread on her shirt.

"I suppose," she whispered.

"Really?" Ginny asked. She was not interested in a repeat of that afternoon.

Hermione shrugged.

"Well, now that you three have felt the full extent of my wrath," she whispered. "Yes… I suppose I've forgiven you…"

Ron glanced over at her, giving her a very obvious look. She bit her lip and nodded, allowing him to relax. Harry sighed and turned to Roxanne, who was busy playing around with Darcy.

"Where's Viorel?"

Roxanne smiled, taking her eyes off of the skyfox.

"He's taken a rather curious interest with Ms. Luna Lovegood," he said. "He wants to know why her heart is so unique. He's studying her."

Ron frowned.

"By studying, you mean…"

"Observing her from a safe distance of course, Ronald," she replied coyly. "We already ate last night."

"Someone who deserved it, I hope," Harry muttered.

Roxanne smiled, but said nothing more on the topic. This made Ginny shudder and Hermione roll her eyes. Ron just went on to a much more serious topic.

"Hey, Roxanne. Do you know when Ozera's going to make his decision?"

"Who's Ozera?" Hermione asked before Roxanne could reply. Instead, the vampire turned to Hermione.

"Ozera is the head of the Council. He's the oldest vampire in Europe so he is in charge of making major decisions such as whether or not the vampires will enter into war with humans."

"Oh."

Roxanne nodded and returned to Ron.

"The Council is still debating as far as I know. You will know when they have made their decision."

"How?" he asked as he moved over to where Hermione was standing. She moved over to make way for him at the counter, making sure that their bodies did not touch but at the same time wanting nothing more than to return to his arms. She quickly crushed that feeling however as she returned to the conversation.

Roxanne pointed to Harry.

"Ozera will call a meeting to talk to both you and the Death Eaters to give his decision to both of you at once."

Harry glanced over at Ron.

"I shouldn't go. If I go and the Death Eaters find out that I'm here in Romania-"

"It would not matter, Harry."

They turned to face Roxanne.

"Why not?"

Roxanne's eyes flickered over to Ginny.

"If Ozera picks the Death Eaters over you, he will have you all killed. It is a precautionary step," she whispered.

Harry paled.

"Wait, all of us?" he asked, his eyes also landing on Ginny. This time Roxanne became still, making her look like one of those marble statues of a goddess.

"Yes, Harry, even Ginerva would have to go." Her lips hardly moved as she spoke. "All of you have been to the Asylum."

"Hermione, Neville and Luna haven't," Ron said. "What about them?"

Roxanne's eyes flicked between Ron and Hermione. She could sense the protectiveness in Ron's voice and by the way the two were standing beside each other, she knew that their relationship was much deeper than they let on.

"I'm sorry, Ronald, but once Ozera finds out that they are here and that they know, they will have to be terminated," she whispered. "But you must remember, that is only if we choose to side with the Death Eaters. If we choose to side with you, the Death Eaters will be dealt with. Besides, Harry, you must attend. All of you would do good to attend. It would save us all the pain of having to hunt you down should things go… sour."

Hermione couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"I'm sure you'd love that," she muttered, but at the same time she, like all the others, turned a sickly pale color.

Roxanne shook her head.

"No, I would not, Hermione," she whispered. "I would love nothing more than to keep Ginerva alive, if not for her delightful company, for her heavenly scent."

Ginny shifted in her seat, trying to smile after the grave news they had just received.

"I suppose I should take that as a compliment."

Harry looked down at his watch.

"How much longer will it take for them to decide?"

Viorel suddenly materialized at the door.

"Roxanne, we must go," he said. "Ozera has called for us to return to the Asylum."

Roxanne frowned, taking Darcy off her shoulder and placing him on the table.

"I did not hear-"

"_Trebuie să plec acum_!" he hissed, his coal black eyes blazing momentarily with her slow reaction. Roxanne's lip curled, revealing a cruel set of sharp teeth as she flinched away from him before she stood up and in a blur they were both gone. Harry frowned.

"They must be making a vote," he muttered. Ginny glanced over at him a fearful look on her face.

"What do you think they'll choose?" she asked.

"It depends on what you offered," Hermione whispered, looking between them. "What _did_ you offer anyway?"

Harry glanced over at Ron.

"Well… in some countries, vampires are still considered magical creatures, so they have no rights. Dumbledore has a lot of influence in some of these countries and could convince them to change that."

"How about those _opportunities_ Roxanne was talking about?"

Ron shook his head.

"Dumbledore mentioned to us that if we ever came across the vampires not to offer them any sort of feeding promises. There are too many complications with that and it could end in the death of innocent people," he explained. "Our discussions had nothing to do with blood."

"While the Death Eaters offer them every sort of feasting opportunity in England and so on," Hermione concluded for herself.

"Pretty much," Ginny whispered, growing paler by the moment. There was a brief silence before she spoke again, this time her voice barely audible. "We're going to die."

They all looked at her.

"What?"

She looked up at them.

"The vampires are going to side with the Death Eaters," she whispered, panic now evident in her voice. "We're going to die!"

Neville and Luna appeared at the door, frowning.

"What's going on?"

Ginny turned to them.

"We're going to die!"

"What?!"

Harry moved quickly, grabbing Ginny by the arms and turning her to face him.

"Ginny, you can't just say that. You don't know what they're going to decide!"

Hermione watched as tears filled Ginny's terrorized eyes. Unconsciously, she reached out and grabbed Ron's hand as fear began to slowly filter in to her, Ginny's words becoming more real with every passing moment. She felt Ron give her hand a squeeze and some of that fear immediately went away, but it did not help that Ginny was having a complete breakdown.

"You know they'll side with the Death Eaters! It's in their best interest to!" Ginny snapped, pulling away from Harry and wiping at her tears. "In the end, all they care about is how much blood they get!"

"Ginny, you can't be sure," Ron responded, knowing that Ginny's tantrum was scaring everyone. Ginny rarely broke down like this, indicating to them all that something was terribly wrong with her.

"Why is she saying that we're going to die?" Neville demanded, moving into the kitchen. "What's going on?"

"If the vampires decide to join Voldemort, they're going to kill us!" Ginny yelled. "We're going to die!"

"Ginny, why are you acting like this?!" Harry demanded. "You're scaring everyone!"

"Because I don't want to lose you!" Ginny bellowed before she fell completely silent, staring at Harry with a shocked look on her face. Everyone else held their breath as they waited for Harry to respond, though by the shocked look on his face, it seemed unlikely that he would.

But he did move. He took a quick step towards Ginny and gathered her in his arms, holding her tightly as she broke down sobbing in his arms.

"I can't lose you, Harry," she whispered. "Not now."

Harry looked completely petrified now as he held her close, kissing her brow.

"You're not going to lose me, Gin," he whispered into her hair. "I won't let that happen…"

While this was going on, Hermione could feel Ron's eyes on her. She willed him to look away, but knew that he wouldn't until she looked at him. So she did. She looked straight into his scared blue eyes and she felt tears come to hers. There was something in his eyes that she had desperately wanted to see for the longest time, but was it too late for that?

Hermione tore away from his gaze to look down at their entwined hands, squeezing it harder. She lifted his hand up to her lips and kissed it swiftly before pulling away completely and moving over to where Neville stood.

"We should go," she whispered to him, glancing over at the embracing couple. Neville nodded and walked out the door with her, stopping only to take Luna's hand. Ron hesitated until he saw Hermione glance back at him. "Ron," she murmured.

It wasn't her telling him to give the two some space.

It was her telling him that she needed him…

So he came.

They went into the living room. Ron sat down in a chair and pulled Hermione down on his lap, where she curled up into a ball and cried; the reality of the situation dawning over her. Neville and Luna sat on the couch, leaning into each other for the support they desperately needed.

They sat there in silence…

Waiting for the sun to rise again…

Waiting for daylight to relieve them from their fear…

**A/N: Okay, a very tense chapter. The next chapter you get another glimpse of England. I hope you're all happy now. Please no more requests for beatings upon Harry or Ginny. I know many of you are upset about this, but if you'd like to see some more interesting scenes, you need to stop asking me when Hermione's going to beat them up or explode or something. Those scenes take up a lot of my time and I'd _really_****like to give you some action. Well, I've already written those scenes (I'm on chapter 24 right now), but I keep chopping up my chapters and creating new chapters because you people keep calling for blood. Chapters 20 and 21 were supposed to be together and this chapter was supposed to be chapter 18, I believe, but you were all like (WE WANT HARRY AND GINNY TO SUFFER!)... Okay, well, now that I'm done ranting and raving like a crazy person, I'll get to the reviews. **

**PS: I'm not really angry at any of you. I just _really_ wanted to get to the action scenes earlier, but this sort of took a long time. Sorry.**

**Wesker888:** Of course! What would a story of mine be like if there werent any problems? :-)

**marvelous-fanwriter:** Well, you can't have vampires without them making comments that make everyone else uncomfortable but sound completely natural. ;-)

**jenny:** I'm glad you think so. I was hoping they weren't too awkward, so it's good to get feedback about them. Thanks!

**Ted in a nutshell:** I laughed when I saw your review and that's not a bad thing. That's a really good thing! That's one of the first times someone's used caps to tell me something bad rather than begging me to update and I applaud you on that. I think you're the reason this chapter was longer actually. The whole part with Hermione cursing them wasn't actually in there until I read your review yesterday, so good job! But to say something about her not doing anything, I think the first scene when they finally see each other, I'm pretty sure they were all to shocked by Ginny's excitement _to_ say anything. And then I _did_ actually say that she yelled at them, I just had no interest in writing a whole chapter on Hermione's rantings. That would have taken too long and I'm too lazy. Besides, a lot of you are starting to say it's dragging so I want to get to the action sequences as quickly as possible. Enjoyed your review!

**mgmve2008:** You'll find out about what Ginny's scent does in the next two chaptes. It's actually quite entertaining in some circumstances.

**xMidnight Muse:** I was trying to find something from this chapter that wouldn't give it away and that's the only thing I could find that still made you wonder what was going on. I hope you enjoyed the whole chapter!

**Ahhhhh!:** Well of course it's going to be strained, since he did abandon her, but hopefully it's starting to get back on track. I mean, Ginny's been with the boys for the past few months so they're going to seem a lot closer obviously, but hopefully now that Hermione's back, the trio will become more unified again.

**wow60:** Well think of it this way. It's like having Angelina Jolie or Heidi Klum in the room wearing nothing but a nightie (is that a bad example?). The boys are used to it by now, of course, but Hermione has to get used to the fact that she's extremely beautiful. Of course Ginny and HErmione are pretty, but wouldn't you feel a bit self-conscious if a supermodel was in the room with you and your boyfriend/girlfriend?

**Fyre of the Funeral Pyre:** Yes everyone dies, but not everyone dies by being attacked by vampires! :-)

**OzDust:** I'm not here to recommend any other book and I'm certainly not basing my characters off of Twilight. (I've read the book and I thought it was okay, but that's beside the point.) I'm glad you liked it though.

**cha cha dancer:** Wait until chapter 21! That one's _really_ interesting!

**x-x-xCAROLANNEx-x-x:** We'll see. I haven't really thought about them. They're mentioned in future chapters, but I don't want to get into too much detail until it's absolutely neccessary. (spelling?)

**Chapter Tease: Very vague, yes, but there's not much to use in the next chapter without giving a lot away. **

_"Does it hurt?"_

_"Does what hurt?" Viorel asked. _

_"To die… does it hurt?"_


	20. Blackout

_The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity_. **-Lucius Annaeus Seneca**

* * *

Hermione woke up to the warmth of the sunlight peeking through the curtains as well as the warmth of something around her. She could feel something moving up and down and it took her a couple of minutes for her to realize that it was a chest. She shifted slightly, looking up to see Ron watching her carefully. Hermione felt her cheeks grow warm and she looked away from him, her eyes roaming across the room to where Neville and Luna were. Neville was snoring on the couch while Luna sat next to him, staring across the room and out the window with a blank look on her face.

Hermione felt Ron's arms start to move away from her so she reached out and touched them. He stopped and she looked up at him.

"Are you okay?" she whispered, trying to ignore the fact that their faces were now merely a few breaths away. He reached out and touched her pale skin, causing her to shiver.

"Are you?" he asked. Hermione bit her lip, her eyes darting over to the kitchen.

"What time is it?" she asked, shifting again in his lap so that she was sitting more comfortably.

"Five thirty," Luna answered as she continued to stare out the window. "They should be here any moment."

Hermione noticed Neville begin to wake up and she decided to get up as well. She eased herself out of Ron's lap, but as she moved away, she felt Ron's hand brush along her arm, causing her to shiver again. She paused and took a deep breath.

_Damn it, Hermione, get a grip! Today you could get your throat ripped out by a bunch of self-righteous vampires! You can't allow him to do this to you now!_

She took another shaky breath, wiped the hot tears away from her eyes, straightened her short brown hair and walked off to the kitchen. When she saw that there was no one there except for Darcy, she glanced over at the stairs. For a moment, she considered not going up, but she decided to anyway. She walked up the stairs and looked around until she heard a creak coming from the bedroom Harry used. Hermione walked up to the door and pushed it open slightly, stopping there, her heart breaking with what she saw.

They were both lying on top of the bed, covered by the glow of the morning sun. Ginny was lying on her back, staring up at Harry who was lying partially on top of her, eyes fixed solely on her. They had their heads leaning against each other as they continued to stare at each other, nothing but love and fear in their eyes. She had never seen Harry so scared in her life. From the way he looked at her to the way he caressed Ginny's tearstained face, she could tell that he was terrified. She had seen the same look from Ron…

Not wanting disturb them, she silently stepped away from the door and gently closed it. Hermione then leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.

Is this how it was supposed to be?

To just discover love only to be torn apart by the fear of death?

"Hey, Ron… do you know what's going on?"

Hermione opened her eyes and looked down the stairs where the voices were coming from.

Devonshire must have just come back.

Biting her lip, she took a deep breath and went down. When she entered the kitchen, Neville and Ron were standing in the corner with Devonshire while Luna made tea by the stove. Ron caught and held her gaze for a few seconds before he returned to Devonshire. After picking up a whining Darcy, Hermione went over to Luna.

"Can I help?" she asked softly, placing Darcy on her shoulder where he cuddled up against her neck.

"No, I'm almost done," Luna replied in her normal dreamlike voice. Somehow this gave Hermione a little comfort. At least something was normal.

"Okay," Hermione whispered, taking one of the steaming cups Luna offered. "Thank you."

Devonshire glanced over at them.

"You guys okay?" he asked. "You all look like crap."

Hermione ran a hand through her hair.

"We all had a bad night," she whispered.

"Well, it'll be over soon," he replied.

Neville frowned as he went over to Luna and took a cup of tea from her.

"How can you be so calm about this? Aren't you afraid that they'll pick Voldemort?"

Devonshire shook his head.

"Voldemort killed my wife two years ago," he told them. "I've got nothing left to lose."

Ron glanced over at Hermione before turning to leave the kitchen.

"Well, some of us do."

Hermione set down her cup and Darcy before she followed him into the living room. She saw him pacing the floor like a caged animal, his eyes filled with a primal fear.

Hermione approached him carefully.

"Ron-"

Ron moved so quickly that Hermione hardly had time to react. His lips captured hers in a searing kiss, pushing her against the wall, his hands encircling her waist as he pressed himself against her. Her hands found their way in his hair, tugging him closer as they began to spiral out of control. Their lips moved aggressively against each other as Ron started to pull a little at her shirt, their need for each other growing with every moment.

"Why is it that, in a fatal situation, mortals tend to make out or make love rather than voice their love for each other?"

Hermione and Ron pulled away from each other quickly like they had just been burned. They looked over at the door to see Roxanne and Viorel standing there.

In the morning light they were a frightening sight. Like two nightmarish wraiths, trapped within the reflective rays of sun that fell upon their pale skin. Their eyes were sunken hallow and their entire bodies were emaciated. It was a complete contrast to their normal celestial hosts of the night. It was obvious that the pounding hearts of both humans was having a serious effect on the vampires as well. Their black dead eyes were pounding with a slight lust.

The deadly beauty that had been there before was gone. A dream. A trick of the mind meant only to attract prey.

This was the reality behind the alluring façade.

This was the true vision of an immortal damnation.

Roxanne's eyes fell on Hermione.

"I would voice my love… actions mean nothing in the end," she whispered before turning to face the kitchen door, as if expecting someone. As if on cue, Luna and Neville came in, frowning.

"Is it time already?" Luna asked softly.

Viorel nodded slowly, his skeletal head barely moving.

"Please do not ask us the decision," he whispered. "We must move quickly. Ozera will not wait long and the Death Eaters are already on their way… but of course, Ronald should already know that."

That was when Ron finally did feel the throbbing on his arm. In his mind, he could see the entrance to the Asylum and the six Death Eaters.

"It's happening now," he whispered. Roxanne nodded, feeling his heart start to speed up. Though it was no where near as erratic as it had been moments ago when he had been kissing Hermione, it was enough for her to sense the fear that was very evident in the room around her. But there were two other heart beats that she was more interested in.

"I'll go get Ginerva and Harry," she whispered. Hermione shook her head.

"Give them a few more minutes," she pleaded. Viorel shook his head at her.

"We do not have a few more minutes."

"They deserve a few more minutes! Harry and Ginny-"

"In the end, it does not matter how many more minutes you _have_," Roxanne hissed. "What matters is how many years it took you to realize that the only thing that _does_ matter is how long it took you to realize that you love each other!"

With that said, she dissolved into nothingness. Ron quickly left the room as well, ears burning scarlet. He returned just as fast with three wands in his hand.

"We got them a few days ago," he said, handing them out to Neville, Luna and Hermione. "They'll help a little," he added, glancing over at Hermione.

"How?"

"To paralyze the forward runners," he whispered. "If worse comes to worse, you don't want them to be the first to get you."

"Why?" Luna asked.

Ron paused, eyes fixed on Hermione.

"Because they don't go straight for your neck… they try to rip you apart limb from limb," he told them. Hermione glanced over at Viorel.

"Does it hurt?"

"Does what hurt?" Viorel asked.

"To die… does it hurt?"

Viorel moved out of the morning sun and into the shade, where he instantly reverted back to his handsome, supermodel figure and out of his skeletal ghostlike corpse.

"Yes… but it depends on how you die…"

"Did the forward runners get you?"

Viorel shook his head.

"No… the forwards are only for attacks… I _asked_ for this…"

* * *

The Asylum.

To most that were not of the immortal sort it was a final resting place. An underground hellhole complete with fire, brimstone and the gnashing of teeth.

To those like Ginny, who were lucky to have that unique scent, it was as close to heaven as the damned could come.

It was an underground fortress of sorts, spread out over several miles of subversive networks of tunnels. A passageway from a discretely situated place in a nearby city led to one of the Asylum's many entrances, providing those who lived down there with several exits if the time called for it.

Not that it ever did.

No one knew where it was.

And those who did were either dead or had the potential of dying quickly if the location was ever given away.

Not that someone could breach the city if they wanted to.

Three hundred years ago someone had tried to lead an entire army into the Asylum.

They did not make it past the sentries. None of them.

When they all arrived at the passageway, Roxanne and Viorel led the way down the long dark tunnel, grateful to get out of the morning sun. Devonshire and Harry were the second to go down, with the girls in the middle and Ron taking up the rear. He had no interest going first this time around.

Hermione fell into step with him half way down the tunnel, glancing up at him as they continued to walk.

"Those forward runners," she whispered. "They got to you, didn't they?"

Ron nodded.

"They did," he replied quietly. "Three of them…"

"But they stopped?"

Ron shook his head.

"Not until Viorel caught a wiff of Ginny on Harry. By that time, I was almost unconscious."

"Oh."

They walked on in silence for a few more minutes, both of them remembering the event that had taken place before the two vampires had arrived back at the house.

Hermione was perfectly aware that it had happened out of fear and that if it had been any normal day, Ron would have never done it… but he had… and she had returned the action with equal eagerness.

Biting her lip, she stopped and grabbed his arm, stopping him as well and turning him to face her. She reached up and placed a hand on the back of his head, pulling his lips down to hers. They kissed for a moment before she pulled away, a little dazed.

"What was that for?" Ron asked, confused and elated at the same time. She looked up at him through the barely lit tunnel.

"I just wanted to know that before wasn't just a bout of fear," she whispered.

"I'm still scared," he replied.

Hermione smiled.

"So am I," she murmured before leaning up and kissing him again.

"Hey!" Viorel growled angrily through the darkness, his deep voice vibrating off of the stone walls around them. "This is the wrong place for you two to be doing that! I don't care if you're related to Ginerva or not, I'll attack you if you do that again."

"Sorry," Ron grumbled, gently pushing Hermione ahead of him so that the temptation was out of his reach.

"I'm sure," he heard Harry mutter from somewhere ahead of him.

"Shh!" Roxanne snapped. "We're approaching the sentry post."

They all fell silent as they emerged from the tunnel into a large pocket of space underground. The entire area was built of stone with two large intricately carved mahogany doors opposite the mouth of the dark tunnel. The area was barely lit with one candle light in the corner where two large men stood. It was obvious to them all that there must have been more around and judging by the fact that you could not see the ceiling of the area, there must have been posts up there along the wall as well. The two guards relaxed when they caught sight of Ginny and one of them actually approached the group, a ghost of a smile on his handsome face.

"Ginerva, you've come," he greeted, kissing her brow carefully.

"Kaleb," Ginny whispered. "It's nice to see you again."

Kaleb nodded before turning to Viorel. "Ozera is waiting for you with the rest of the Council in the Marble Room."

Viorel nodded and motioned for the others to follow him towards the doors. The other guard also went to the door and looked up into the darkness above. Suddenly three more men appeared on a platform above the enormous doors that Luna, Hermione and Neville had not noticed before. Each guard placed a hand on the walls surrounding the doors and for a moment nothing happened. Then the carvings glowed a deep blood red temporarily before they slowly began to open. Viorel nodded thanks and stood to the side as Roxanne led the group in. He took up the rear and came in after Ron had gotten by, a dark look in his blue eyes.

"Cheer up, Ronald," Viorel whispered. "The Asylum will not harm you anymore."

Ron snorted but entered in.

"I can't see anything," Neville muttered.

It was pitch black.

_Figures,_ Hermione thought bitterly. She felt someone brush against her and she reached out to take their hand. The person squeezed her hand comfortingly and she instantly knew that it was Ron.

All around them, they could hear the murmurings of hundreds of vampires, seething and lusting as the darkness around them seemed to begin to crush them.

"Hold still," they heard Roxanne whispered. Though they could not hear her, they felt her breeze as she moved around them quickly, dripping something into their eyes. Hermione blinked a couple of times before everything suddenly became brighter. It was like the sun was right down there.

"Welcome to the Asylum," Roxanne whispered to the mortals.

"Oh my gosh," Hermione whispered, squeezing Ron's hand tighter. She could see her breath crystallize in front of her as the cold finally hit her. "It's amazing."

It literally went on for miles. Like a miniature Atlantis, made completely of marble.

It was beautiful.

Ginny moved past the group, standing against the railing and staring past the pueblo like houses against the sides of the valley like city. In the middle, like in most ancient cities, was the largest building of all. A titanic structure made of black rock. Onyx most likely. There were no windows to this building, not that there was any need for windows down here anyway. There were no lights. All around, people were materializing and then disappearing, only walking when their destination was four or five paces away. Little eternal children ran around, popping in and out of sight, lunging at each other with bared teeth and laughing dead eyes, twisting and wrenching at each other aggressively. Even from the incredible height at which they were, she could hear them screaming and laughing loudly at each other, saying words that were far beyond the age of the bodies they were trapped in.

"Tell us the moment it wears out," Roxanne whispered again. "Any of you get lost and you might as well save us the screaming and kill yourself."

Ginny looked around.

"Welcome to hell."

* * *

Moody was heading down from a meeting with several high level ministry officials when Tonks came running up to him.

"Moody, I need to talk to you," she said, falling into step with him as he walked towards the elevators.

"So does everybody else, Tonks, make it quick," he growled, pressing his level.

"We've managed to completely secure Hogsmeade again, but the Hogwarts Express is missing and all of the fireplaces in the town have been destroyed," she told him. We've managed to evacuate the students who are capable of disapparating, but that's only the seventh years. Dumbledore needs the Ministry's permission to use mass transit portkeys."

Moody looked alarmed.

"The Express is missing?"

Tonks nodded.

"I've already notified Kingsley and he has some Aurors stationed at Kings Cross and a couple of other train stations around London," she said and he relaxed.

"Okay, well, I'll see what I can do about the portkeys, Tonks. Those gits are still focusing on trying to find the assassin. They think that Hogwarts is the safest place."

"What about the parents, Alastor? Some of them are muggleborns and you know it's only a matter of time before Voldemort has those families attacked," she whispered as they got off the elevator. "What are we going to do about them?"

Moody shook his head as he entered the department and headed for his office. When Tonks had come in, he shut the door and turned to face her.

"Look, Tonks. I have a lot to deal with. The Muggle Parliament is hardly cooperating with me as it is. London's gone to hell and in a matter of hours, according to our intelligence, Voldemort could attack St. Mungos. I've got thirty men at Mungos already with five more on the way."

"You can't spare anyone? If I got a list of the muggleborns _just_ in London and at least five Aurors, that would help us, Alastor," Tonks pleaded. "We have to get them out of there before things get worse."

Moody shook his head.

"I'm stretched thin as it is and I can't afford to spare any of my men to go collect family members. I might be able to give you two guys, but that's it, Tonks. I'm sorry," he told her. She nodded.

"That's fine, Alastor. I understand," she said moving for the door. But before she reached it, the door opened and Hyde, a fellow Auror, stepped in.

"Hey Moody! You need to see this!" he said, motioning for the Head Auror to follow. Tonks trailed behind and followed them to a large monitor in the middle of the department. Several people were already gathered around it, talking quickly.

"What's going on?" Moody demanded.

Hyde pointed to the screen.

"Look."

Tonks frowned.

"There's nothing there. It's black, Hyde," she said.

"That's London."

Moody turned to see Kingsley coming towards them with two other men.

"What do you _mean_ that's London?" Moody asked.

Kingsley pointed behind him with his thumb.

"Muggle London's gone into a complete blackout."

**A/N: Okay, so here you go. 2 chapters. Go forth, read and review!**

**nextbestthing:** Well, they may not have vocalized their love, but they definitely showed it.

**Wesker888:** I hope you like the next chapter then. It's not necessarily War of the Dead, but I think you'll be pleasantly (or unpleasantly) surprised.

**Fyre of the Funeral Pyre:** Since you're uber looking forward to this chapter, I'll give you _two _chapters.

**ronandmion4ever:** I was wondering where you were! I missed your long reviews because they're always filled with interesting comments! I'll try not to update quickly, but I won't make any promises. As for Molly, I though it was about time that she got to throw a tantrum (and a pan). I thought Twilight was okay, but like you I'm not _that_ big of a vampire fan. Hopefully this doesn't resemble Twilight. Please tell me if it is. You'll see what happens in the next chapter.

**xMidnight Muse:** I hope you're not disappointed. The part with Hermione was my favorite part as well.

**mgmve2008:** Well, you'll just have to go on to the next chapter to find out.

**wow60:** Yes, he's alive. Harry will tell her eventually, I'm sure, but as of right now, I think he's scared to death of what might happen if he does. Does that make sense?

**jenny:** Just wait and see what happens.

**ginnylovesharry07:** A lot of tender moments in this chapter.

**bga1974:** Well, I hope you got your wish! :-)

**tamara72:** And believe me, they will come!

**On to the next chapter!**


	21. A Blood Infatuation

_No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear._ **-Edmund Burke**

* * *

"Stay close," Viorel whispered as the passed under the white arches of the large black building in the middle of the Asylum. It had taken them almost an hour to reach the place since they had been forced to walk the entire way.

It was an interesting walk in which several of the younger vampires would come up and sniff at Ginny. Many passed by them as they walked through a long dark hall, eyeing them with obvious lust, but doing nothing about it as they went on with their business.

"I've never seen anything like this," Hermione whispered. "All of the books I read about vampires always mentioned a safe haven for their kind, but never mentioned a name or what was inside. I never knew there were so _many_ living in Europe."

They heard Roxanne's tinkering laugh echo around them.

"This place was never meant to be permanent," she told them. "One thousand and six hundred years ago, this place was meant to safe guard the Ancients during a time of great persecution. It grew as time went on when the Ancients decided that vampires needed a place where they could live without fear of being discovered by muggles."

"It's beautiful," they heard Luna whispered to herself.

"What is this place?" Neville asked quietly, though to the vampires, he might as well have screamed it. The place was as silent as the many graves it had created.

"It has many names," Roxanne murmured, moving out of the way as two hulking vampires pushed past, eyes darting to Ginny briefly before they continued on their way. "They call it the Onyx Formation, Black Mass and other appropriate names. But the Ancients refer to it as _Oras de îngeri căzuţi_."

"Which means?"

"City of Fallen Angels," Harry muttered grimly.

"How appropriate," Hermione whispered to herself. Ron chuckled nervously and she gave his hand another squeeze as they walked into a massive atrium of onyx. Vampires were everywhere, either moving up and down the walls or across the cold floor. The air was misty with a substance she could not identify as they walked towards one of the many corridors that led to the center of the Black Mass.

"What's this mist?" Luna asked.

"You don't want to know, trust me," Ron muttered. "You _really_ don't want to know."

Hermione glanced over at him, but said nothing as they continued to walk quietly. They were stopped on countless occasions because of Ginny and a few times because of Luna, who many of the vampires thought was fascinating. Her heart beat differently than others and would change its beat for unusual reasons. Several knew Ginny's name and would stoop down to kiss her brow and take a whiff of her blood scent. Harry took it all very well until a couple of small children came too close and actually bore their fangs at her.

"Piss off," he growled and they spat back a few profanities at him, telling Hermione that these 'children' were much older than they appeared.

"Quiet now," Roxanne whispered. "We've arrived at the Marble Room."

Like the entrance to the Black Mass, the Marble Room had large white arches. But instead of the typical large wood doors, this one was guarded by one large door made out of a metal Hermione had never seen before. It was a beautiful shade of red and though it was obviously heavy, the metal seemed to move like mercury around the frame. Like a churning vat of blood…

"It's to prevent eavesdropping," Harry explained to them as Viorel and Roxanne approached the door and knocked on it. There was a momentary silence before the door swung open slowly, revealing what looked to be an arena. There were five vampires sitting around the arena in plush deep crimson seats that stood out against the white marble floors and walls. There were three males and two females. One of the males had the body of a five year old child. They were dressed in elegant black robes that only magnified their paleness and their splendor.

All along the wall were guards that might as well have been statues themselves with the way they stood rigid and unblinking. Even when Ginny entered the room, they did not move.

But the Ancients did.

They stood up, coal black eyes watching as she and the others moved down the cold steps to the small marble arena. Viorel motioned to them.

"May I introduce you to the Ancients," Viorel said to the mortals. He pointed to oldest one sitting to the far left. "Ronan." The female beside him. "River." Viorel skipped over the man in the middle to the woman on the other side of him. "Fiona." The little boy. "Constantine." Finally he reached the man in the middle. "This is Ozera."

They all bowed respectfully, all eyes fixed on the eldest Ancient. He was young, no older than twenty-five, yet his voice demanded respect and instilled fear into all of them. Somehow everything in the room seemed to conform to his position and status. Even the way the pillars along the walls kept him in the center of it all.

Ron felt his arm twinge with pain and he turned to look behind him.

"The Death Eaters are here," he whispered to Harry. On cue, the door opposite the one they had just come through opened and five men entered in dark robes. They stopped when they caught sight of Harry, eyes wide.

"Harry Potter," the one in front whispered. The one in back began to inch towards the door, but the red metal door slammed shut and they all turned to look at the twelve Ancients sitting in the stands of the arena. The middle one, Ozera, stood.

"Mr. Wagner, I believe the time to inform Voldemort that we have been in discussion with his enemy has come and gone. Please inform your men that the next time they try to leave, their blood will decorate our brand new walls," he hissed before sitting back down.

The woman sitting to his left, River, stood up. She motioned for the five men to enter the arena.

"Mr. Wagner, we do not have all morning," she whispered, even though it was impossible to tell what time it was. Harry watched stiffly as the Death Eaters made their way down into the arena, standing as far away from Harry's group as possible.

"Now, the Council will begin."

The two red doors opened and vampires flooded in, eyes wide with lust. Even Luna seemed a little scared as she grabbed hold of Neville's arm, moving closer to him as they all watched the eager immortals take their seats in the stands, staying clear of the Ancients. Viorel and Roxanne turned to Devonshire.

"It is time for us to leave you," Viorel whispered. Roxanne reached out and touched Ginny's neck.

"Do not be fearful yet, Ginerva, or you will incite a gorge," she whispered before both of them moved into the stands and sat down. Harry grabbed her hand and she tried to smile.

"Oh to be so loved," she whispered to him, making him smile as well, but refrained from saying anything.

"Ozera."

They all turned to see Ozera stand up, eyes on both groups.

"Will Harry Potter and Joshua Wagner please come forward," he said.

Wagner and Harry approached the Ancients. One of them, Ronan, laughed a great booming laugh.

"Ginerva's terrified, Ozera! Her heart pounds like a caged animal!" he said with a thick Irish accent, showing off a brilliant row of tiny, needle-like teeth. He motioned to Ginny. "Come up here, little darling, your lover shall not perish this exact instant! Calm your nerves!"

Ginny did as she was bidden and walked up to where the Ancients sat. A young girl materialized out of nowhere, carrying another crimson chair. Ginny sat next to the old man, her face growing scarlet from embarrassment. This only made the man laugh harder.

"My dear, you keep doing that and the entire room will taste your glorious blood," he told her. "Come now! Potter's fine!"

After a moment, Ginny somehow managed to slow down her heart rate and stop blushing.

"Sorry," she whispered, making a couple of the other Ancients chuckle. Ozera raised an eyebrow.

"Ronan, if you are finished?"

Ronan smiled broadly and nodded. Ozera turned back to Harry and Wagner, who looked furious.

"Favorites? Is that how this was to be decided?! Because of a blood infatuation?"

There was a terrifying roar that ripped from the deadly lips of Ozera, his dead eyes suddenly blazing with the fires of hell. The entire room shook and every vampire shrieked with fear at the sound. Harry backed away from the vampire while Wagner cowered, shaking in his robes.

"_Do not accuse me of picking favorites, Wagner_," Ozera growled, his voice filled with outrage. "_If you know what's best for you, you will not speak again!_"

Wagner nodded silently and Ozera's eyes immediately reverted back to the typical deadened orbs that occupied every vampire's face.

"Now… the Ancients have made their decision."

Hermione leaned into Ron, biting her lip as the vampires began to grow anxious. The room became colder with every second.

Ozera looked over at Wagner.

"Mr. Wagner. I hope the plans you made were binding," he said.

Wagner nodded.

"As soon as the Shutdown is complete, your feeding rights will be changed," he said.

"Oh my God," Luna whispered, moving closer to Neville. Ozera eyes flicked over to her before he spoke again.

"What a shame… if you had not just insulted me, you would have lived to see the Shutdown complete. I'll make sure Potter tells Voldemort that we said no," he whispered.

There was a momentary silence in which Hermione's heart stopped.

_They were going to live!_

That was when the screaming started.

Two of the Death Eaters made a break for the door, but five forward runners cut them off, teeth bared and muscles rippling with eagerness.

"Don't look," Ron hissed, grabbing Hermione and pulling her to him, holding her head to his chest as tortured shrieks of unimaginable pain split through the cold air like a knife. He could feel Hermione shaking horribly in his arms and knew that she had seen something as he too forced himself to look away. Luna and Neville ducked out of the way as the vampires in the stands surged towards the six Death Eaters, eyes wide with blood lust.

"NO!"

Harry ran up into the stands and fell to the floor, pressing his back to the marble barrier and closing his eyes as he tried to drown out the screams. Luna and Neville joined him. Tears were streaming down Luna's face as she sobbed into Neville's shoulder. Harry could hear her muttering something about wanting to go home and in that moment he wanted nothing more than to do the same… wherever that was…

Devonshire grabbed Ron and Hermione and dragged them up to the doors and behind the pillars, out of the way of the bloodbath that was happening in the arena.

"All we have to do is stay out of sight until it's over," Devonshire whispered, peeking around the pillar to see what was going on before turning around and pressing his back to the cool marble. "Just stay quiet." Ron nodded, closing his eyes as he tried to drown out the screams and hisses that came from both the victims and the predators.

Hermione could hear limbs being torn apart and bones being broken and it only made her sick. Her stomach churned nauseatingly before she pulled away from Ron and threw up. Devonshire's eyes widened and he shook Ron.

"We need to get her out of here," he hissed as she threw up again. "She's sick and if they sense her before they're finished, they'll attack her regardless of the fact that they just killed the Death Eaters."

Ron nodded and grabbed Hermione, pulling her to the door as she continued to tremble in his arms. As he did, he caught sight of Ginny, who was still sitting in her seat, eyes wide with terror. She was starting to hyperventilate as she sat frozen with horror. He looked around and caught sight of Harry, Neville and Luna.

"Harry! Get Ginny!" he bellowed above the bloodcurdling shrieks. "HARRY!"

Harry looked up from his place at the base of the stands and saw Devonshire and Ron pointing over at Ginny. He looked around and caught sight of her, his eyes growing wide when he noticed that she wasn't moving.

"GINNY!" he roared, sprinting off across the plush seats towards her, ignoring the splatters of blood that hit him as he ran. "Ginny!"

When he reached her, she finally tore her eyes away from the bloodshed, looking up at him.

"Harry…" she murmured before looking back at the massacre. "Harry…"

He reached down and yanked her up from her seat.

"Ginny, look at me, don't look at it," he whispered urgently to her. "Gin, _look at me_."

She was hyperventilating by now and he knew her heart was booming against her chest as he shook her again.

"Ginny, look at me!" he screamed. "We need to go!"

Ginny gasped and pulled away from him, looking down at her hand. There was a small cut on her thumb where Harry's watch had caught her. A little droplet of blood leaked from the cut and fell to the floor, mixing in with the blood that was already there.

Suddenly everything went still and Ginny, who had finally come back to reality, looked around to see at least thirty different sets of ravenous black eyes on her. Harry began to slowly push Ginny up the stairs.

"Oh my God," Luna whispered, having seen the whole thing. "Oh my God!"

"Run!" Neville screamed. "GINNY RUN!"

"AHHHHH!"

It was like twenty banshees howling in unimaginable pain as the vampires let loose a unified scream. Harry turned and shoved Ginny to the ground, placing himself on top of her as they surged forward, shrieking and hissing.

Ginny stared up into Harry's eyes and watched as they filled with pain when five sets of teeth sunk into his skin. She reached out and grabbed his shirt.

"NO!" she screamed as he was yanked away from her. "HARRY!"

He disappeared under the wave of seething, screaming in pain. There was a moment where she thought he was dead when a flash of light burst through the mob and several vampires went flying. She caught a glimpse of Harry trying to get to his feet, but then an old man jumped on Harry's back and sunk his spike-like teeth into his back, dragging him back under the lusting, gnashing teeth.

Ginny could feel the tears running down her eyes as she saw other vampires turn to face her, eyes wide with want. Blistering black orbs watched her every movement as they began to crouch down, their legs like steel coils ready to be released.

"Pretty Ginerva," one of them whispered lovingly, tongue lolling out of her mouth as she waited with ecstasy to taste Ginny.

"No," Ginny whispered. "PLEASE! STOP!"

They lunged at her.

"NO!"

"_**ENOUGH!**_"

Everything stopped. Everything was silent.

"_Scoate-o de aici acum_!" Ozera hissed, standing up from a mutilated carcass. "NOW!"

Ginny released a yelp as two people grabbed her and dragged her to the door.

"NO! HARRY!" she screamed struggling ineffectively against the people who had her.

"SHUT UP!" Ozera shrieked. "GET OUT NOW! _And get Ms. Granger out as well_."

Before Ginny could make another noise, she was yanked out of the red metal door and into the darkness. Viorel and Roxanne appeared in front of Devonshire and Ron, blood covering their fronts and their eyes blazing.

"Let us take her," Viorel whispered, motioning to Hermione, who looked like she was about to throw up again. Ron shook his head.

"No," he growled.

Roxanne glanced over Ozera, the fire slowly going out in her eyes.

"Ronald, there is no time. We will not harm her, but you must let us take her out of here. She's sick and she will not last much longer if she stays in here," she hissed. Ron released Hermione and watched with fear as she was taken out of the arena as well, closing his eyes when the large metal door slammed shut. Silence reigned all around him.

It was obvious to see that none of the vampires were breathing anymore. Ginny's scent was everywhere.

Ozera moved across the marble floor, his bare feet moving through the layer of blood that had accumulated in the arena.

"Let go of Potter _now,_" he growled. The vampires immediately backed away from Harry, who was lying on the ground, his chest moving up and down quickly, blood pouring from his legs, arms and neck. A gurgling sound was escaping his tortured lips as he stared wide eyed up at the ceiling. Ozera walked up to him and looked down at him.

"You are very brave, Mr. Potter," he whispered. "And you are very lucky. Do not test my patience again. Now get out of here before I change my mind and kill all of you."

Neville grabbed Luna and dragged her up to the top of the stairs where Ron and Devonshire were. Devonshire took hold of Luna.

"Get Harry," he whispered. "Hurry up!"

Luna's eyes were wide with fear as her eyes fell upon the carnage in the arena.

"Oh my God," she whispered. "They're dead…"

Neville helped Ron pick up Harry.

"Luna, don't look," he whispered as they moved towards the door. "Luna, don't look."

Luna closed her eyes and held onto Devonshire.

"I want to go… I want to go!"

Devonshire pulled her to the door and soon they were being led out of the Black Mass. They needed seven guards around them to prevent other vampires from attacking Harry, who was starting to fade.

"We need to hurry," Ron hissed. "He's not going to make it!"

* * *

Ginny was shoved into a cold dark room and the large metal door was slammed shut quickly. She stumbled back to the door and banged her fists against them.

"LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! PLEASE!" she screamed. "PLEASE!"

When no one answered, she let out a sob and sunk to the ground, clutching her head as she tried to block the bloody images out of her mind.

"No… no… HARRY!"

Ginny shoved her fist in her mouth to keep herself from sobbing out loud as she trembled from the terror that still pumped through her veins. She tried to think of anything else but Harry, but every time she tried, the faster she saw his beautiful green eyes.

"No," she whispered through her fist.

The metal door opened and Viorel came in, his body still covered in warm sticky blood. Ginny's eyes widened and she lunged at him.

"YOU KILLED HIM! YOU SON OF A BITCH, YOU KILLED HIM!" she screamed, slamming her fists down upon his chest. "I HATE YOU!"

Viorel's hands shot up and snatched her small wrists, easily stopping her and forcing her against the wall. He let out a menacing hiss, his bloody teeth glittering dangerously in the dark cell. Ginny shrunk away, shutting her mouth tightly.

"_Shut up_," he growled. "Harry's being looked at right now! The others are alright, so be quiet before the others hear you and decide you're not worth it, Ginerva!"

"Then let me go!"

"You're bleeding," Viorel growled. "You have to stay in here until you stop."

"I don't _want_ to stay here! I want to leave!" she screamed. Viorel struck her in the face, slamming her down to the ground with a vicious hiss.

"_Stay here."_

Ginny let out a sob.

"Is Harry going to live?"

Viorel moved away from her and headed over to the door.

"Just be quiet," he hissed before disappearing, leaving her in the dark.

**A/N: Yes, here it is! The chapter so many of you were begging for! So as you can see, these are not the Twilight vampires. These are _my_ vampires. Hope you enjoyed!**

**PS: Could someone please tell me the name of that thing in the attic of the Burrow. Is it a poltergeist?**

**Chapter Tease:**

_"What will they do to you if they find out I'm here, Severus?" she asked._

_"Don't worry about that," he whispered. _

_"Severus, I need to know. I need to know what's going to happen-"_

_"Don't," Severus snapped. Stephanie drew her lips into a thin line and looked down at her hands. She was silent until she saw a cup of tea placed in front of her. She bit her lip. _

_"Severus, if you go to jail… I won't be able to stop it…"_

_"I know…"_


	22. Momentum

_I watched the world float to the  
Dark side of the moon  
After all I knew it had to be something  
To do with you  
I really don't mind what happens now and then  
As long as you'll be my friend at the end_

**Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down**

* * *

"So you're a telepathic?"

"Yes."

"Are you stable or are you unstable?"

"Unstable, sir."

"You're sure?"

"What?"

"Are you sure?"

"Are you questioning my intelligence or my honesty?"

"Hmmm…."

"Sir?"

"So you're positive you're unstable?"

"_Yes_."

"Wouldn't that make your visions unreliable?"

"No sir. It just means that unlike stable telepathics, I'm not as dependable. My visions are just as reliable as any stable telepathic."

"Do you have any triggers?"

"Triggers?"

"Certain objects or people who start your visions?"

"Depends sir."

"Depends on what?"

"What I'm looking for."

"So you are stable."

"No sir, I'm not stable, I just have the ability to focus on a certain thing in hopes that visions of that thing will be produced."

"What are you focused on at the moment?"

"I wasn't called here for that, sir and I am not at liberty to say."

"I suppose Dumbledore is controlling the operations."

"Sir, not to be rude, but Dumbledore's reasons for bringing me to Hogwarts has nothing to do with you."

There was a momentary pause in which the man across from Stephanie scribbled down several things, glancing up at her continuously as he did. Finally, he stopped and looked up.

"Do you have an Overseer?"

"Yes sir."

"Who is it?"

"Severus Snape."

"Snape? The Ministry was not aware that you two had a relationship."

"As of late, the Ministry has not been aware of a lot of things. I do not see why my relationship with Severus has any importance."

"Severus Snape is a former Death Eater. Telepathics do not deal with those who have submerged themselves in the Dark Arts."

"Well then, it seems you have another book to right while you're busy asking useless questions," she retorted quickly.

"Ms. Warner, I must advise you to keep your tongue in check. Your abilities are still being questioned," the man snapped sternly.

"I do not see why? I have been vouched for by Albus Dumbledore _and_ Alastor Moody. I have credentials from several Ministries in other countries and if I can recall, Severus Snape was cleared of all charges, I do not see why my abilities and my allegiances are being called into question."

"Your brother was said to have aided Voldemort before he died."

"Ah yes, my brother. I was wondering when you were going to get to that," Stephanie snapped angrily. "My brother was a traitorous bastard whose _stable_ abilities began to grow out of control. He made one wrong reading which cost Voldemort ten Death Eaters. Voldemort wasn't happy so he had my brother killed. What does any of that have to do with me?"

"You two were very close," the man whispered.

"So?"

"You were never in contact with him during his years with Voldemort?"

Stephanie shook her head.

"Like I said before. He was a traitor. I don't care if you happen to share a couple of genes, that doesn't mean I have to love him any more."

There was another pause.

"Back to Snape."

"What about him?"

"How is your relationship with him? Since he is not a relative, it is necessary for us to gauge your relationship."

"We're close," Stephanie answered, choosing her words carefully. She did not need them using this against her later.

"How close?"

"What do you mean, 'how close'? He's my Overseer. He _acts_ like my Overseer."

"He may be your Overseer, Ms. Warner, but we believe that his actions towards you say otherwise."

"What actions? Severus-"

The man pulled out a few pictures, one of which caught Severus and her kissing each other very briefly before they turned and went in different directions.

"What about these?"

"Oh, go to hell!"

The door to the interrogation room opened and Severus strode in.

"This conversation is over," he hissed, taking Stephanie by the arm and pulling her out of the room. As they walked down the hall and out of the ministerial offices, she kept glancing back.

"I should go back there and kick his arse," she growled. "He had no right!"

"There's no time," Severus hissed as they got into the elevator and went down to the main level. "You and I need to talk."

Stephanie frowned, sensing the tension in his voice.

"What's wrong?"

"They think you're lying about being unstable."

"WHAT?!"

Startled occupants of the elevator stared at her with disapproval and Severus quickly ushered her out of the elevator towards the exits. As soon as they had gotten out of the Ministry and onto the streets of muggle London, Severus pulled her to the side of the street so that they would not interrupt the flow of afternoon traffic.

"They think you are stable," he whispered. Stephanie shook her head.

"But I'm not. You have to tell them-"

"It's too late for that."

If it were not for her dark skin, she would have gone completely pale. Her legs wobbled dangerously and Severus grabbed her before she tipped to the side.

"What?" she asked breathlessly. "What do you mean it's too late?"

Severus led her into a small café nearby and sat her down in a chair.

"They believe that Dumbledore brought you to Hogwarts for his own personal purposes under the guises that you are unstable, but he's only now started giving the Ministry the information we've been getting from Remus and Potter, they believe that you _are_ stable."

Stephanie shook her head.

"No… Dumbledore has to tell them that I'm not! I'm not stable!"

"Keep your voice down," Severus hissed and she snapped her mouth shut, tears appearing in her dark eyes. He reached out and took her hand. "Listen, Dumbledore's talking to them right now, but until then, you need to come home with me and stay there until we figure things out."

Stephanie nodded quietly, standing up with him.

"Severus… you can't let them take me…"

He held her close and led her out of the café. He needed to get her home before it became too dark. Muggle London at night was chaotic due to the continuous blackout.

"I won't."

* * *

"Dreyfus, you can't possibly think that she's stable," Dumbledore said. "You know very well that I would have told you if she was."

Dreyfus raised an eyebrow.

"Would you Albus? I'm starting to doubt that. You've been holding a lot back from this Ministry ever since Potter arrived at your school and ever since he's disappeared you've been even more secretive than ever until Lupin came back. Now I think this Ministry has been more than forgiving, but I will not stand aside and let this whole place go to hell while you hide that girl away! The Minister of Magic is _dead_ Albus. Does that mean nothing to you?!"

"Of course it does, Dreyfus, but you must understand something. Stephanie is not stable."

"Don't insult my intelligence, Albus. You have too much information from her for her _not_ to be stable. Besides, you know as well as I do that unstable telepathics can become stable if they are pushed hard enough. She just needs the right encouragement. Now, if you cannot bring her in, then we shall have to go and get her. You know the rules."

"She's not an object you can play with, Dreyfus. She is still a human being."

"She's a weapon, Albus and nothing more! Voldemort used her brother against us in the last war and we shall use her now!" Dreyfus snapped, standing up from his desk. "You cannot protect everyone from their destiny, Albus!"

Dumbledore shook his head.

"You are making a very big mistake, Dreyfus. This Shutdown is already inciting panic. She isn't a Seer, Dreyfus. She sees the present, not the future."

"Seers are unpredictable, Albus. Telepathics are very useful because they can help us know what the enemy is planning! You know the benefits of it more than I do!"

"It's not worth her life!"

Dreyfus shook his head.

"If I have to sacrifice one life to save this country, then so be it," he growled. "Good bye, Albus."

"Dreyfus-"

"Ms. Warner is already being interrogated. She will be brought to the Department of Mysteries afterwards so that we may begin to end this Shutdown."

Dumbledore shook his head grimly and turned to leave.

"You are making a big mistake."

* * *

Tonks opened the door to Grimauld Place and let the Grangers go in first before she entered the place herself.

"You two will have to stay here for a while," she told them as she led them to the kitchen.

"Where is Hermione?" Mrs. Granger asked.

"Hermione's safe outside of England. She might be returning soon, but it all depends on how things go with this Shutdown."

"Tonks?"

They all turned to see Remus standing at the kitchen door. Tonks glanced over at the Grangers.

"Excuse me," she whispered before going over to Remus. "What's wrong? What are you doing here?"

Remus shook his head.

"Not now. We don't have much time. The Burrow was attacked."

Tonks' eyes grew.

"What? Are the Weasleys okay?"

Remus nodded.

"Everyone's fine. Molly's at the hospital with Bill and Fred. George and Charlie are at the Ministry with Percy and Arthur," he told her quickly. "That's not the problem."

"What is?"

"They found out where Ron and Ginny were."

Tonks frowned.

"What? How could they possibly know where they are? None of the Weasleys know where they are."

Remus shook his head.

"No one except the ghoul in the attic. Apparently the thing had been eavesdropping on Ron and Harry the whole time. The Death Eaters somehow managed to get information out of him, though I don't know how. They know about Harry."

Tonks shook her head.

"But they never mentioned anything about going to Romania. They won't know-"

"Harry and Ron did talk about the vampires though. It's only a matter of time before they get caught."

Tonks' eyes grew.

"Oh my God… we have to warn them!"

Remus turned pale.

"We can't. The Shutdown, remember… we wouldn't reach them in time."

"Then how does Voldemort plan on reaching them?"

There was a momentary pause and then Tonks answered her own question.

"Oh my God… the Hogwarts Express… that's how they're getting in and out of England undetected!"

Remus nodded, turning to go out the door.

"I'm going to the Ministry. They have to know about this before it's too late. Contact Dumbledore!"

Tonks nodded, watching as he disappeared. She took a deep shaky breath.

If Voldemort knew about Ron and Ginny, then he knew where Harry was… and if he knew where Harry was… then God help them all…

* * *

Stephanie came downstairs from taking a shower and looked around for Severus. She checked the kitchen and living room before she finally found him in his large study, leaning over a pensieve. She could tell that he was concentrating on something important, so she stood silently by the door, watching as his eyes narrowed at a certain memory.

She had known him since she had come of age, almost twelve years ago. He had become her Overseer purely by chance. Normally the Overseer of a telepathic is a relative, revealed through the first vision, but on her birthday, her first vision was of a tall handsome man in England. She had come from Egypt to England to find the man and with Dumbledore's help she had found her new Overseer. He would become her confidant and though she chose to stay in Egypt, they remained in constant contact, coming closer with every passing year.

He had been the one to tell her about her brother's betrayal and he had been there when he had died. She trusted him fully and hoped that, despite his unpleasant past, he would continue to help her… she needed him…

"Are you going to stand there the whole night?"

Stephanie jerked out of her revere and saw him watching her with dark eyes. She carefully entered the room and approached the pensieve. She stood right beside him and ran her finger around the rim of the silver basin.

"What were you looking at?" she asked quietly, not looking at him.

"A memory."

"Of what?"

Instead of answering her, Severus moved past her and left the study. Stephanie followed him out and trailed behind him until he reached the kitchen, where he began to make tea. She sat down on a stool at the counter and watched him move around before she spoke again.

"What will they do to you if they find out I'm here, Severus?" she asked.

"Don't worry about that," he whispered.

"Severus, I need to know. I need to know what's going to happen-"

"Don't," Severus snapped. Stephanie drew her lips into a thin line and looked down at her hands. She was silent until she saw a cup of tea placed in front of her. She bit her lip.

"Severus, if you go to jail… I won't be able to stop it…"

"I know…"

She looked up.

"Then why-"

"Because you deserve a few more hours of freedom," he snapped before leaving the room again. Stephanie grabbed her cup of tea and hurried after him into the living room. He sat down and she sat down beside him. She set down her cup and grabbed his hand.

"But you could go to Azkaban," she whispered. He stared at her for a moment before he reached up and placed a hand on the back of her head, bringing her forward and kissing her softly on the forehead. Stephanie touched his face as he held her close, closing her eyes as she tried not to cry.

"Don't worry about me," he whispered. Stephanie pulled away a little and brushed her lips against his before she turned and picked up her tea.

"But I _do_ worry about you, Severus," she whispered. "You're the only one I can tell my visions to and if you're-" Before she could finish her sentence her sight was filled with white light.

Gasping, she grabbed Severus's hand and held him as her vision began to unfold.

She could see a street in London. It was a residential area with houses all over. Everything was quiet. Someone was walking down the street with their dog but they weren't important. The person she was viewing through had other things that were much more important to do. She moved down the street through that person's eyes, seeing lights go on and off in different areas of some of the houses while many slept.

The person moved a small radio to his lips and spoke into it.

A muggle.

"Everything looks fine here, sir," the person said. "I don't see why I'm here."

_We got a call about a domestic disturbance. We just want you to check it out_, said the voice in the radio.

"I'm at the neighborhood and I don't see anything wrong. Should I look around a little more?"

_Negative. Probably just someone couple having a fight and it got a bit too loud. Just continue with your rounds_.

"Okay."

The man returned the radio to his holster and turned to move back to his car parked on the street. As he went there was a flash of light and the turned again.

"What the hell?" he muttered, moving towards where the flashes of light were coming from. "Kids," he grumbled.

_BOOM!_

Stephanie gasped and jerked back as if she had been struck by someone. Severus grabbed her shoulders and shook her quickly.

"What did you see? Tell me now," he said quickly. "Stephanie!"

Stephanie was starting to breathe quickly, but somehow she managed to speak through the tears that were starting to fall down her face.

"Danvers Street in Chelsea… it's been blown up… they're all dead, Severus," she cried. "They're all dead!"

"How many of them were there? Who were you looking through?" he asked. "Did you see who did it?"

Stephanie let out a moan and closed her eyes.

"What does it matter, Severus?" she sobbed. "They're dead!"

Severus shook her.

"Stephanie, you need to stay focused before you forget," he hissed. "Go through the stages and tell me."

But the vision had been too much for her. She had never had a vision about death before so this one caused so much pain that she could not think straight. She did not want to deal with the pain. She did not want to see anything like that again.

"I don't know! Please don't make me remember," she cried. "I don't want to remember."

Severus could tell that he was not going to get anything out of her, so he pulled out his wand and pointed it to her temple. He had to act quickly before the vision was lost.

"Damn it, Stephanie," he growled. "_Accio visio_!"

Stephanie groaned and her eyes snapped shut as Severus removed the vision from her. The silvery mass quickly began to disappear so Severus pressed it to his head before it was gone. He saw brief images of Stephanie's vision, but he got the basic idea before it disappeared in his mind as well.

_Ding dong!_

Stephanie and Severus looked up when the door rang. Severus got up and left the living room to answer the door while Stephanie remained on his couch, crying and clutching the cup of tea like a life preserver. A few seconds later Dumbledore and McGonagall entered the room with Severus. None of them looked very happy.

"She saw Chelsea, Albus," Severus was saying as Minerva went over to Stephanie. "It's been destroyed by Death Eaters."

"You're certain it was Chelsea?" Dumbledore asked. Severus glanced over at the woman.

"It was her first death vision, Albus. She's not okay," he said quietly so that only Dumbledore could hear. "I had to take the vision from her."

Dumbledore frowned.

"You know how dangerous that can be, Severus," he said. "Visions aren't reliable once they've changed hosts."

Severus nodded.

"I know, but if I hadn't, she would have forgotten it completely," he said. Minerva looked up from Stephanie.

"Albus, she's not well. I'll take her upstairs to lie down, if that's okay, Severus?" she asked. Severus nodded and McGonagall helped Stephanie out of the living room and up the stairs. Severus turned back to Dumbledore.

"What's going on with Dreyfus?" he asked.

Dumbledore sighed and sat down in one of the chairs. Snape sat across from him on the couch.

"Dreyfus was always power hungry. Ever since the Minister was killed, he's lost focus on what's important and is just interested in building up his name. He doesn't care about what happens during this Shutdown," Dumbledore whispered.

"Albus, Stephanie isn't stable," Severus said. "Dreyfus has to know how much pain she would go through if they wanted to force her to produce visions, let alone vocalize them."

"He knows and he doesn't care. He wants to know what I've been holding out on him."

"Potter." Severus murmured.

Dumbledore nodded.

"He knows I know where Harry is and he won't stop until he finds out as well."

Snape glanced over to the stairs where McGonagall was coming down.

"She's been having visions all day," he said. "Mostly of Potter, but a few of Voldemort. She can't really see what he's planning though. The presence of evil causes pain to her so she doesn't stay long."

"Once Dreyfus finds out that you've removed her from the Ministry, he will come here looking for you… I cannot protect you, Severus."

"And Dreyfus knows that I'm the only one she can talk to about her visions," Severus replied.

Dumbledore shook his head.

"Dreyfus knows that with the right amount of pain, you can get her to talk even without you there."

Minerva looked alarmed as she sat down.

"So we are just going to hand her over, Albus? They'll kill her if they try to force her to talk. You know that."

"We have no choice, Minerva. Stephanie is obligated by law to aide the Ministry in times of war, even if she isn't stable. I cannot go against years of law."

"But in times of war they would not arrest her Overseer, Albus," McGonagall responded tersely. "The Overseer is the only thing that keeps these telepathics alive! You know how much the Ministry has wanted to put Severus in Azkaban. Dreyfus won't care if he's her Overseer. He'll kill her just to get a glimpse of Voldemort."

"There's nothing we can do, Minerva. The Ministry has the right to take her and Stephanie is required to help them, no matter how much we are against it," Dumbledore stated darkly. "I know we have broken rules before, but with the Minister dead and London in chaos, we cannot afford to cause friction between the Ministry and the Order. If that happens, Voldemort will tear us apart from within and we can't let that happen. We must-"

"Albus! Albus!"

They all turned to see Tonks run in, eyes filled with fear.

"What is it?" Severus demanded.

"Harry. He isn't safe! Voldemort knows where he is and he's sending people over to get him."

Minerva shook her head.

"They can't get out of England."

Tonks shook her head.

"They have the Hogwarts Express, Minerva. They've already gotten out."

**A/N: Okay, so I promised you a view of London, so here it is. As you can see, Hermione's parents are safe (for now) and that other things are going on with in the Ministry. Very bad things. **

**Blue Leah:** Thanks for that. Hope you like this vampire free chapter! :-)

**Rogue200315:** Well, I updated as soon as possible. This chapter took _forever_ to finish. Even after I had gone on to other chapters, I had to keep coming back and tweaking it.

**jenny:** That's right. They turned on Harry and stuff because Harry accidentally scratched Ginny so they smelt her blood. Wagner was just some random Death Eater in charge of the vampire pact or whatever you want to call it. He didn't succeed obviously.

**Alquimista:** Thanks for bringing that up before chapter 23! I've had to change a few things because of the points you brought up. (Not bad changes hopefully, but thankfully you brought them up). Hopefully I'll answer all of your questions (if not most of them) in the next chapter. It's funny you mentioned the Roman empire, though. I think I mentioned something about vampires interfering in human wars before and how it sometimes ended badly. Very interesting.

**xMidnight Muse:** Hopefully I didn't make you too sick. Sorry about that. My imagination runs away with me, as you might have noticed if you've read any of my other stories. Don't worry about Harry. My story wouldn't really work if Harry died.

**Wesker888:** Allies with a very bad sense of ettequite. (spelling?) There will be more about it in chapter 23.

**mgmve2008:** I wouldn't like Harry as a vampire. It would be too creepy.

**Ahhhhh!:** Don't worry, I'll put a little more Hr/R in the next chapter.

**ronandmion4ever:** Yeah, that part was weird in the book, which is why i made it the complete opposite in this story. Instead of being more beautiful, they're disgusting and stuff. I'm glad you liked the Asylum. I didn't want it to resemble Atlantis in too many ways, but it's hard not to. As for the kiss, i thought it was about time those two had something to show for the past nineteen chapters. _Wow..._ I wrote a R/Hr fic and abstained from writing a kissing scene for _nineteen_ chapters. Either I'm getting better at this or I'm just losing my touch. Either way, it's funny. Yeah, I actually wanted Harry to die in the seventh book, but him dying now just would not work for the plot line. Of course I missed you! You have the longest reviews which means you have the most to say which means when I respond I get to talk on and on and on. It's funny how you predicted when I would update, but to be honest I wasn't actually done with this chapter. It was _much_ shorter than this when I started moving on to 23 and 24 (which _are_ done). I kept going back and tweaking it. Stephanie's vision actually wasn't in the original chapter and neither was the discussion about Snape earlier in the interogation room. Neither was the conversation between Dreyfus and Dumbledore. That wasn't in there. So, just to protect you from my other readers coming over and attacking you at your house, I did not update this chapter on Sunday because my bff was in a play. I updated it because I'm too OCD to let things go without going over them for at least a week after they've been written. This chapter was written at least a week and a half ago. So no this is not your fault. :-)

**Fyre of the Funeral Pyre:** To be quite honest, _I_ don't even know what they are. I mean, _obviously_ they're closer than friends, but to say that they're lovers would be going a bit far at this time. We'll have to wait and see.

**OzDust:** Well, as long as you respect them, I'm sure you'll live to read another chapter. :-)

**wow60:** Don't worry about Harry and as for Hermione telling Ron about her summer, I think that's something both of them are trying to avoid at the moment. Perhaps later.

**nextbestthing:** Of course I'm not going to kill Harry. That would ruin my whole story! (Then again, i could let Voldemort take over the magical world and destroy everything...) *smiles evily* Thanks for the idea! ;-)

**tamara72:** This chapter was less intense, but with a lot more info.

**ThEnAmEsGiGi:** You want to see crazy? Wait for the next two chatpers. That's crazy.

**ginnylovesharry07:** Yes, Harry is a brave soul. Stupid, but very brave. (I'm just kidding, I loved that part too)

**juanli:** Thank you! I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!

**Okay, so now that you've all gotten your fill, here's a chapter tease to make you antsy.**

**Chapter Tease:**

_"Have you received any information from Remus or Dumbledore?" he asked. _

_Devonshire shook his head, a dark look in his eyes. _

_"It's been unusually quiet. I think something's wrong," he told them. Luna's eyes widened. _

_"What do you think is wrong?"_

_Devonshire shrugged, looking around the living room at each of them. _

_"I don't know… I just know something bad is going on in England…"_

_Roxanne suddenly frowned, glancing over towards the window. _

_"Were you expecting company?"_


	23. Time Well Spent

_The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. _**-Winston Churchill **

* * *

For the next couple of days, Hermione and Harry were confined to their beds, too disturbed to be moving about like the rest of them. Luna helped the most with all of them, moving from room to room, offering sleeping potions to Hermione while redressing Harry's extensive wounds.

Ginny had arrived many hours after the others had come back to the house and she had instantly locked herself up in her room, talking only with Ron briefly about Harry and what had happened before she stopped talking all together.

The vampires, Roxanne and Viorel, had not stopped by since they had dropped Ginny off at the house, giving the entire house a wide berth until Harry was completely better. Not that anyone was concerned about them.

Ron and Neville looked up from breakfast on the third morning after their visit to the Asylum to see Luna enter, carrying a small bowl of water. She barely made eye contact with them as she moved around the kitchen, gathering breakfast onto a small tray to take up to the two who were still conscious.

"Luna, you need to sit down and eat," Neville whispered. "They'll be fine."

"I just need to bring them lunch," she snapped back quickly. Ron shifted so that he could see her better.

"Neville's right. You've been working too hard and you need to rest. _I'll_ take the food up."

Luna shook her head.

"I need to take it up now," she muttered.

Neville got up from his seat and went over to stand beside her, watching her carefully.

"Luna, you need to take a break. They're going to be fine," he whispered, placing a hand on her shoulder. Luna took a deep breath and sighed.

"Okay, fine," she muttered, coming to the table and sitting down beside Neville. Ron handed her a plate of food and she began to eat.

"Where's Devonshire?"

"Taking care of business," Ron replied, watching Luna just as vigilantly as Neville was. She had been the only one who had not discussed what she had seen with anyone. It was obviously eating away at her, but she refused to talk about it. Ron was afraid that if she didn't say anything soon, she'd break down completely.

"Luna, how are you feeling?" he asked calmly.

"I'm fine, Ron," she murmured. Neville made eye contact with Ron briefly before turning to Luna.

"Luna, you really should talk to us about this," he whispered. "You can't keep it all inside."

"I don't want to talk about anything," she said through gritted teeth.

"Luna-"

"I saw six men get ripped apart like parchment," she snapped angrily, tears brimming in her blue eyes. "I was scared to death because I thought I was going to die, but I'm here and you guys are here, so there!"

"Luna-"

"There's nothing to talk about! We all saw what they did! That could have been us!"

Neville grabbed her arm.

"But it wasn't," he whispered. "It was the Death Eaters."

"But they're still people, Neville! They still feel pain! They still bleed! And they still suffered the worst possible death imaginable!" Luna retorted heatedly. "They attacked Harry!"

"Harry's safe now," Ron pointed out.

Luna snorted.

"Yes, he's safe now, but that's only because that Ozera managed to bring himself back to reality in time to save Ginny! What if he hadn't stopped them? You know how much they want Ginny! What if he had decided that they might as well have a taste of her? Then we all would have been dead," she snapped.

"But we're not and he _did_ stop them, Luna," Neville responded. "You make it sound as if they did something horrible."

"They did! They killed those men!"

"We would have done the same thing," Ron whispered, causing Luna's eyes to widen in surprise. She stared at him for a moment, seeing the truth in his statement. She then took a deep breath and looked down at her food.

"No one deserves to die like that."

"No they don't, but that's what happens in war," Ron growled. Luna stared at him.

"Have you killed anyone?"

"What?"

Luna looked between the two of them, biting her lip.

"Have you killed anyone?"

* * *

It was dark when Hermione woke up later that day. She rolled over on her side to see that the curtains had been pulled. The action caused her head to hurt and she moaned when she finally felt the splitting headache. She raised a hand to her forehead and could feel the heat radiating off of her sweaty skin.

"You're awake."

She looked over in the corner to see Ron standing by the closet, a box in his hand.

"Ron," she whispered. He set down the box and walked over to the bed, sitting down on it and looking down at her.

"How are you feeling?" he asked softly.

She closed her eyes, rolling over onto her back.

"Like someone just dropped a building on me," she murmured slowly. "My head is killing me."

"You were pretty sick," he whispered.

"What time is it?"

"One thirty."

"Oh."

It was silent for a few minutes while Hermione tried to get her bearings. She was back at the house, she knew that. It must have been a couple of days since the visit to the Asylum because Ron was much too calm for it to have been only hours since. She took another deep breath and opened her eyes to see Ron watching her.

"How are you?" she asked.

Ron shrugged as he reached up and brushed some hair out of her face, running his hand gently down her face as he did. Hermione's eyes closed when he did this, enjoying the coolness of his fingers against her feverish skin.

"Better than you," he replied.

"And Harry?"

Ron offered her a smile.

"He'll be fine. So will Ginny."

Hermione nodded, reaching out and taking his hand.

"What's going to happen now?" she asked as she laced her fingers with his, looking up at him.

Ron shook his head.

"Don't worry about that," he whispered. "Devonshire's dealing with all of that. Hopefully, if the Shutdown is finished up in England, we could go back."

Hermione's eyes widened and her interest was restored. She propped herself up on her elbows so that she could see him better.

"Really?"

Ron nodded, delighting in her renewed energy.

"Yeah," he whispered. "We might be able to go back home."

Hermione tried to smile, but then her head started hurting and she groaned instead. Ron placed his free hand on her forehead and sighed.

"You still have a fever," he whispered. "You should rest. I'll go get you another blanket."

He was about to leave when she pulled him back down on the bed.

"I'd get warmer faster if you stayed with me," she whispered, hopefulness in her eyes. Ron hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to react. But when she moved over and pulled up the sheets for him to lie down, he shrugged and slid in besides her, pulling the sheets back down on him. Hermione immediately snuggled up against him, resting her head on his chest and closing her eyes.

"You're much warmer," she murmured.

"Thanks," Ron replied softly, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her closer. They were quiet for a while, just lulling in between sleep and consciousness. Ron actually began humming the 'Weasley is Our King' tune as he drew soft circles on her arm, enjoying the fact the he finally got to hold her without anything bad happening.

Everything seemed so natural about being in Ron's arms that it was as if they had been doing this for years. Just being close to him allowed her to feel so much safer.

Hermione was almost asleep when a question popped into her head about their current situation and she decided that now was as good a time as any to get her question answered.

"Ron," Hermione whispered quietly.

"Hmm…"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

Hermione turned around on her stomach and propped herself up on her elbows so she could look at him.

"Why did you kiss me?" she asked.

Ron stared at her for a moment then he shifted as well.

"What?"

She looked down at her hands.

"Why did you kiss me… before we went to the Asylum…"

When he didn't answer her immediately, she was afraid that it had been what she had feared it had been. Out of fear and nothing more. A quick response for comfort rather than for love.

But when she looked up at him, she saw the truth. Even before he spoke, she could see it in her eyes and it filled her with warmth that she knew would not go away for a long time.

"I can't say," he whispered, watching as she tilted her head to the side. She smiled.

"Why not?"

He offered her a lopsided grin and shifted them around so that he was lying partially on top of her.

"Because you already know."

Hermione ran a hand down his face to his chest where she could feel his heart pounding against his ribcage.

"How do you know I know?" she asked cheekily.

Ron leaned in and kissed her softly.

"Because you know _everything_," he whispered into her lips, pulling her closer under the sheets. Hermione allowed him to deepen the kiss as he pressed closer to her, his hands moving slowly over her body as they both continued to explore this new level of affection. What stopped this was a slight tugging on Hermione's shirt. She reluctantly pulled away from Ron to see Darcy lying on the covers, its long body wriggling a little as it prepared to pounce on both of them. Ron swore when the skyfox jumped up and landed on his head, squeaking loudly and licking his face as its long tail wrapped around Ron's neck. Hermione grinned.

"Oh, look, he likes you," she whispered. Ron rolled his eyes and took Darcy off of his head and placed the creature down on the covers between them.

"Yeah, I like him too," he muttered. Hermione leaned up and kissed Ron quickly on the lips before turning her attention to Darcy.

"I'm glad Hagrid gave him to me," she said. "He's wonderful and once he grows up he'll be able to protect me."

Ron leaned in and kissed her neck.

"I can protect you," he whispered into her skin. Hermione turned to him and let him kiss her lips.

"I know," she mumbled into his lips. "But he doesn't talk back when you tell him what to do."

"Har, har," Ron muttered, deepening the kiss while Darcy snuggled into the covers, perfectly content since Hermione was in total bliss. Ron took hold of her hand and pulled away from her, smiling slightly. Still holding her one hand, he took his other and gently caressed her face. She closed her eyes at his touch and he gently brushed his thumb over her full, pink lips. She kissed it lovingly and smiled, her eyes still closed, reveling in the feeling. Then he brought his lips to hers and kissed her; gently at first, then with more passion. She placed her arms around his neck, running her fingers through his hair, deepening their kiss.

"Oh bloody hell. I really didn't have to see that."

Ron lifted up his head and they both looked over at the door to see Harry leaning against it, a mock look of horror on his face. Hermione's eyes brightened instantly.

"Harry! You're awake," she exclaimed as Ron sat up to allow her to sit up as well. "How are you? You look really pale."

"Apparently not good enough," Harry muttered, limping a little over to the bed and sitting down on it. "Ron never wakes me up like that."

"And I never will, you git," Ron said as he got out of the bed and went back over to the closet. Hermione reached out and took Harry's hand.

"You're sure you're okay?" she asked.

He nodded.

"I'm better, Hermione," he replied, giving her hand a squeeze. "A little sore, but to be honest, Ron was worse after he was attacked."

Hermione turned to look at Ron, who was holding a blanket in his hand. His eyes widened as he approached the bed.

"Only a little worse," he retorted, handing Hermione the blanket. "I was up four days after."

Hermione pulled the blanket around herself and leaned into Ron when he sat back down on the bed, leaning against the backboard for support. She let out a shaky breath, thinking over everything that had happened since she had left England. Was it going to get worse?

"What now?" she asked, idly stroking Darcy as the baby slept.

Harry looked over at her.

"What?"

Hermione shifted in Ron's arms to look at Harry.

"What now? We're done with the vampires, are we really going back to England?" she asked.

Ron and Harry exchanged looks before Harry broke out into a smile.

"It would be nice to see Hogwarts again," he murmured. Hermione grinned, turning to look up at Ron.

"It'd be nice to see the Burrow again," she said. "My parents must be worried about me."

Ron leaned down and kissed her softly, pulling her closer. Harry made a gagging sound and Hermione kicked out, effectively shoving him off of the bed as she leaned into Ron, opening her mouth to him as he tried to deepen the kiss.

"Is that how it's going to be?" Harry asked from his spot on the floor. "You two start snogging and I get kicked off the bed?"

Ron moved away from Hermione's lips and began to kiss her down her jaw and neck, enjoying the feel of her skin.

"You have Ginny," Hermione gasped out, biting her lip to keep from squealing as Ron nipped at her skin. Harry stood up and jumped on the bed, startling the two away from each other. Harry crawled across the bed and squeezed himself between the two, placing his arms around their shoulders and pulling them close.

"It's good to be back," he said.

"Harry," Ron groaned. Hermione grinned and kissed Harry on the cheek.

"It's good to have you back, Harry," she replied, leaning into him. "I've missed both of you so much."

Harry placed an arm around her and pulled her closer.

"We've missed you too… Ron's been the worse though," Harry said with a smile. "You should have heard him when we were in Paris. He was horrible! Moping about like a caged animal and complaining that he couldn't see his precious-"

"That's enough Harry," Ron cut in. Hermione grinned, crawling over Harry to wedge herself between Ron and Harry.

"Actually," she said, turning her back on Ron and looking up at Harry. "I think I'd like to hear more."

Harry laughed.

"Well, you see there was this one day, I woke up in the middle of the night and he was saying your name in his sle- ow!"

"Ron!" Hermione scolded, snatching the pillow away from Ron before he could hit Harry in the head again. She then kissed Harry on the forehead. "Thanks, Harry. I think I've had enough of 'Woe is Ron' for one day," she said before getting out of bed and heading for the door.

"Where are you going?" Ron demanded, looking thoroughly put out at Harry's interruption. Hermione glanced over her shoulder.

"I'm starving, Ron. Where do you think I'm going?" she asked, disappearing out the door.

"Ow!" Harry yelped as he once again found himself shoved onto the floor. "What?"

Ron rolled his eyes and grinned.

"I liked you better when you were sleeping."

* * *

Luna knocked on Ginny's door softly before opening it. Ginny looked up from a book and tried to smile.

"Hey, Luna," she whispered.

"Hey, Ginny," Luna said, coming over to the bed and sitting on the edge of it. "How are you?"

Ginny shrugged, setting down her book.

"I'm fine, I suppose," she whispered. "I'm just trying to figure things out, that's all."

Luna nodded.

"Well, Hermione and Harry are up and asking about you."

"Harry's fine?" Ginny asked, surprised. She had seen him disappear… she knew nothing good happened when you disappeared.

Luna nodded again, smiling.

"He really wants to see you," she whispered.

Ginny shifted around and looked out the window.

"Are you okay, Luna?" Ginny asked. Luna shrugged.

"I'm fine," she murmured. "Still a little traumatized, but I think I'll pull through."

Ginny nodded but before she could say anything, Hermione came in.

"Hey, um… the vampires, Roxanne and Viorel, are down stairs," she said.

Ginny and Luna shared glances before getting up and following Hermione down to the living room where Devonshire was standing there with Roxanne and Viorel. Once again, they were caught in the rays of afternoon sunlight coming in through the large windows. Their bodies had reverted back to their natural skeletal state, complete with sharp white teeth and sunken in eyes. It was still a terrifying sight to behold.

Ron, Harry and Neville were standing nearby, eyeing the vampires cautiously.

"What's going on?" Ginny asked, glancing at Harry.

Roxanne stepped forward.

"Ozera sent us over to tell you that he will be sending a division to England a week after the Ministry completes the Shutdown," she said lightly. "We will come along with you, if that is okay of course."

"Ozera wants to make sure that his prize is kept safe in England until the division arrives," Viorel added. Ginny blushed when all eyes fell on her, but she did not look at any of them.

"How much is in a division?" Harry asked.

"One score."

Hermione frowned.

"What _exactly_ are they going to be doing when they get to England?" she asked. They looked at her.

"What?"

Hermione shifted.

"I just realized something," she said. "You never really told us what they were going to be doing. Are they going to be fighting with us? Because if they are, then we might as well sit back and let them finish it."

"Oh," Harry muttered, realizing what she was asking. He then shook his head. "No… they're not going to be fighting with us, Hermione…"

Neville frowned.

"They're not? But I thought-"

"We came here to make sure they didn't side with the Death Eaters. Dumbledore doesn't want them fighting at all," Devonshire explained.

"Then why are they coming to England?" Luna asked.

"Ozera wants to make sure that we uphold our end of the bargain," Ron said. "He wants to make sure that Dumbledore doesn't cheat the vampires out of their rights."

"We learned a long time ago that interfering in the wars of mortals only brings carnage to both sides," Viorel murmured. "I have lived long enough to watch empires rise and fall with and without our help. The Ancients prefer to let the mortals destroy themselves without our aid. We will be there, but we will not help."

Hermione glanced over at Ron, who caught her gaze and offered a smile. She shrugged back at him and turned when Ginny spoke.

"Um… so have the other Death Eaters been taken care of?" Ginny asked quickly. Viorel fell stiff and moved out of the sunlight, changing back into the body that was much easier to look at.

"That was taken care of a couple of hours after you returned from the Asylum," he told them. Ron noticed how Luna and Hermione were starting to grow pale and he decided to change the topic. Turning to Devonshire, he motioned towards the front door.

"Have you received any information from Remus or Dumbledore?" he asked.

Devonshire shook his head, a dark look in his eyes.

"It's been unusually quiet. I think something's wrong," he told them. Luna's eyes widened.

"What do you think is wrong?"

Devonshire shrugged, looking around the living room at each of them.

"I don't know… I just know something bad is going on in England…"

Roxanne suddenly frowned, glancing over towards the window.

"Were you expecting company?"

Devonshire frowned.

"What?"

Neville raised his hand, staring out the window.

"Um, Roxanne's right, we have company… but I thought you said you dealt with the Death Eaters," he said over his shoulder.

Roxanne moved over to where he stood to look out the window. There were at least ten of them outside, surveying the area carefully while moving closer to the door and sides of the big house.

"We did," she said, irritation evident in her voice. "Two days ago."

"Then what the hell is that?" Neville demanded.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

Neville pointed out the window.

"There are at least ten Death Eaters outside!"

"What?!"

They all went to the windows and stared outside. Viorel and Roxanne, however, moved towards stairs, stopping at the bottom to converse quietly. Devonshire whirled around, anger in his eyes.

"You told me you handled this!" he yelled.

Viorel stepped in front of Roxanne, eyes blazing. Though he was out of the sun, his handsome visage was marred by the hellish eyes and bared sharp teeth.

"We did," he hissed.

"Then what the hell-"

"Those aren't the same Death Eaters who made the offers," Roxanne cut in. "They're all dead. That's something different."

"Different? There are at least ten Death Eaters out there! How could it be different people?!"

Viorel shook his head.

"There are seventeen of them out there and it _is_ something different."

"Then do something about it!" Hermione snapped.

"_We can't_," Viorel growled.

Ron snorted.

"What good are you if you can't get rid of them?!"

"We can't harm them if they haven't entered this house! You know that. We do not interfere," Viorel snapped.

"So they have to come in here before you can do something?" Ron growled.

"That's one of the reasons we won't do anything," Viorel muttered.

"There are _more_ reasons?! The first one's already bull!" Harry yelled. "They're Death Eaters!"

"That doesn't matter," Roxanne snapped heatedly.

"It mattered a couple of days ago," Ginny hissed.

"We can't go outside!" Roxanne hissed.

"What do you mean, you can't go outside? I've seen you in the sun tons of times!" Harry snapped. "Granted, it wasn't the prettiest thing in the world, but I've seen you!"

To their surprise, Viorel rolled his eyes.

"Yes, contrary to those absurd urban legends, we _can_ go out in the sun, but we have no power!" he growled. "Our true selves are shown, but we might as well be _muggles_."

"You mean, you're mortal?" Ginny asked.

Roxanne shook her head.

"No… we just have the strength of mortals," she whispered. "We cannot help you with this unless they hurt you. Sorry."

Ron pulled out his wand.

"Well, I guess we'll be doing this the old fashioned way," he said, a smirk on his face. "With a wand up the arse!"

Luna frowned.

"Why can't we just apparate out?"

Harry shook his head.

"This place is just like Hogwarts. You can't apparate in and out. A safety precaution."

Hermione snorted.

"Some precaution. Now we're trapped!"

Ron shook his head and headed for the front door.

"Not if we win," he said over his shoulder.

Devonshire and Neville followed him to the front door while Hermione rolled her eyes at his childishness.

"Will he ever grow up?!" she snapped before running out of the living room as well. Harry, Luna and Ginny trailed behind, stopping in the foyer to see Ron and Devonshire staring out the windows.

"There must be some at the back," Devonshire whispered before looking over at Ginny. "Do any of those potions you've been brewing happen to be explosive?"

Ginny shook her head.

"Most of them are for healing purposes. There are some Veritaserum vials down there and a couple of vials of Felix Felicis that Snape brewed last year, but nothing that explodes," she said. "Dumbledore advised against brewing anything that could be used as a weapon because they're normally volatile."

Devonshire nodded, looking over at Harry.

"We need to get them inside the house," he said. Harry frowned.

"What? Why?"

Devonshire pointed out the window.

"They have the upper hand out there. They're already set up and everything. We get them inside, shut all the curtains, and we could let the vampires have at them," he explained. "This is their house. The moment the Death Eaters violate it, the vampires will be forced to do something about it."

Hermione shook her head.

"I don't like that idea," she said. "You let them in the house and we lose our advantage of security."

"We go outside and we're sitting ducks," Ron responded. Hermione stood up straighter, irritated that he was already starting to go against her.

"Then we can stay inside and wait until they come into our sight."

Harry shook his head.

"No. Picking them off could take hours and by then they could call others. We can't take that chance," he said. "Especially since the vampires can't do anything about them until they come inside. We could be waiting forever if we keep them outside."

"And luring them into the house isn't a chance?" Hermione demanded. "What if something happens and the vampires can't help us?"

"It's better than nothing," Neville pointed out. Hermione let out a frustrated sigh but conceded.

"Fine, but if someone gets seriously injured or even killed-"

Harry moved past Hermione towards the back.

"The only people who are going to get _seriously_ hurt are them, Hermione," he snapped. "One or two?"

Hermione looked confused.

"What?"

Devonshire shook his head and turned to Harry.

"One. We only need one."

Harry turned around to look at Ron.

"You or me?"

Ron glanced over at Hermione before pointing to himself.

"I will," he said. "The last time didn't work out to well for you."

Ginny grimaced and walked after Harry, following him to the back of the house. Hermione turned to Ron.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded.

Ron shot Devonshire a look before turning to look at her.

"Prisoners. We only need one," he said to her before returning to look out the window, leaving her gaping at him. Luna frowned.

"You're going to kill them all?"

Devonshire headed for the stairs.

"All except one," he said over his shoulder. Before Hermione could protest, Ron interrupted her.

"Neville, Luna, you two go upstairs with Devonshire. He'll tell you what to do," he said to them before turning to the living room door. "Oy, Rox! Vi!"

The two vampires materialized in front of Ron and Hermione, frowning.

"You don't have to yell, Ronald. We heard the whole thing," Viorel said. Ron pointed to the windows.

"Yes, well, you two need to shut the curtains and prepare for an early dinner," he said.

"Ron!" Hermione scolded, appalled by his levity. "You can't just-"

"We'll be waiting," Roxanne cut in, giving Hermione a very odd look before they disappeared again. In a matter of seconds the house was dark, an eerie dark gold glow cast from the curtains their only source of light now. Hermione turned to Ron, grabbing his arm.

"Ron, what are you going to do?" she demanded.

"What I have to," he replied calmly. Before Hermione could say something Roxanne appeared again, holding out two small clear objects.

"Here," she murmured quickly. "Harry says it will help with communication between the seven of you. Put it in your ears."

With that said, she disappeared. Hermione frowned and placed the round thing in her ear.

"I hate it when they do that," she muttered.

"Roxy's just trying to help, Hermione," they heard Ginny whisper through the earpiece. Hermione sighed.

"I know, I just don't like it when they… dissolve."

Ron snorted.

"It's a bit unnerving isn't it?"

"Are you two going to talk about the vampires the entire time?" Luna asked curiously.

"No," Hermione snapped irritably. "I was just saying…"

"Shh! They're coming closer to the back door," they heard Devonshire whisper. "Harry, Ginny, there are four of them. Be careful."

"Will do."

Hermione glanced over at Ron and he offered her a smile.

"It's going to be okay, 'Mione," he whispered. To make his point even more clear, he leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips before turning to look back outside. Hermione took a deep breath and peeked through the curtains.

_Crash! Crash! Crash!_

Hermione and Ron turned to look into the dining room where a small round object had been thrown through the window. Upstairs and in the back of the house were two similar crashes.

"What the hell is that?" Ron muttered, moving to the door to get a closer look. Hermione peered in as well and her eyes widened in realization. She grabbed Ron's arm and yanked him back.

"GET DOWN!" she screamed and there was a sudden flash of blinding light. She grunted at the weight of Ron falling on top of her, but he quickly got off of her and pulled her up behind the wall. Upstairs Hermione could hear shrieking, but she tried to ignore it. Ron blinked several times as Hermione looked him over, trying to find any injuries.

"Are you hurt, Ron?" she asked, ignoring the pain in her ribcage where Ron had fallen on her. Strangely, the entire house was filled with an unnatural light. It was just like being in the Asylum again, where the light seemed to be coming from an internal sun.

"I can't see anything," he said loudly. "Hermione, I can't see!"

Hermione's eyes widened and she waved her hands in front of his face.

"Are you sure?"

"No, I'm joking, _of course I'm bloody sure_!" Ron growled. "I can't see a thing!"

"Are you guys alright?!" they heard Devonshire yell through the earpiece.

"Yeah, but Harry's blind," Ginny muttered. In the background of her feed they could hear Harry moaning. "It was some sort of explosive."

"It was a flash potion," Hermione told them, looking around. "They must have known about the vampires."

"But how-"

_BOOM!_

Hermione screamed as the front door blew open. At the same time the back door was blown, shaking the old house. Hermione grabbed Ron's arm and dragged him into the living room, peeking around the corner to see what was going on in the foyer. When the dust finally settled, she saw three Death Eaters run in, wands at the ready.

"_BOMBARDA!_" Hermione screamed pointing her wand up. The ceiling exploded and fell on top of the three Death Eaters.

"What the hell is going on?!" Neville demanded from upstairs. "You almost killed us up here!"

Hermione glanced over at Ron, who was still staring in front of him.

"Ron's still blind," Hermione said. "The front door is gone and I don't know how many of them are left!"

"Well try not to blow the ceiling again! We're up here!"

"Sorry!"

"AHH!"

Hermione and Ron winced at the scream from the other side of the house.

"Ginny! Ginny, what happened!?" they could hear Harry demanding in a terrified voice.

"I'm hit," they heard her gasp in response. "There are six of them back here!"

"Ginny, you need to get away from here!"

"You can't see!"

"So, I'm not letting you get hurt-"

_BOOM! BOOM!_

"WHAT'S GOING ON DOWN THERE?!" Devonshire roared.

Hermione ignored the demand, grabbed Ron again and ran to the other side of the living room.

"Ron, can you still not see?" she asked desperately.

"A blur, but not much," he replied. "Are you okay?"

Hermione glanced over at him before peering over the couch.

"Fine… just wait here," she whispered before she moved away from the couch.

"Wait! Hermione where are you going?!" Ron demanded.

"To the basement," she said. "HEY!"

"HERMIONE!"

There were three curses that were aiming for her, but they hit the wall instead, exploding and throwing a shower of debris on Ron. The windows around the living room shattered, spraying Ron with glass that imbedded themselves in his skin. He sucked in a quick breath but tried not to yell out in pain before he called out for Hermione again.

"What's going on?!" Ron heard Harry ask.

"I don't know. Hermione's gone!"

"Hermione, what the hell are you doing?!"

"Down here! I'm down here!" they heard her scream. "In the basement!"

"What's she doing?!" Luna shouted. "Is she crazy?!"

There was a momentary pause and then suddenly tortured shrieks forced them all to remove their earpieces, yelping in pain from the volume.

"What the hell was that?" Ginny snapped, ducking behind the wall as two men fired curses at her from the back door.

"Roxanne and Viorel," they heard Hermione gasp out. "The basement was the only place not hit by the flash bombs. The vampires were waiting down here…"

"Oh."

"AHH!"

"GINNY!"

"What happened?!"

"I don't know! I can't see anything!" Harry cried. "Ginny where are you?!"

Ginny didn't answer.

"We're coming down!"

Ron blinked a few times and noticed that things were starting to come into vision. The outside rims of his vision were hazy, but he could see a few things. Grabbing his wand, he lurched out from behind the couch, pointing at a Death Eater who had come running through the door.

"_Reducto!"_

"_Crucio!"_

"_Avada Kerdava!_"

The Death Eater fell to the ground and Ron stumbled towards the stairs where Luna and Neville were running down. Luna stopped with Ron while Neville headed to the back of the house to help Harry out.

"Ron, your bleeding everywhere!" Luna cried, pulling out of the sight of the front door and letting him rest against the wall. "Can you see?"

"A little," he said, not feeling any of the pain that Luna happened to be pointing out. "I don't feel anything."

"There are gashes everywhere!"

"NO!"

Luna turned to see a Death Eater scrambling out of the basement, eyes wide with terror. However, before he reached the door, something grabbed his leg and yanked him quickly back down into the darkness. Luna turned away from the screeching torture, focusing her attention on Ron.

"We need to get you upstairs!"

_BOOM!_

Suddenly everything was quiet.

Nothing moved. Nothing breathed.

Everything was dark.

"What's going on?" Ron whispered. Luna couldn't see a thing.

"I don't know…"

"AHHHHH!"

"VAMPIRES!" they heard someone scream from outside of the house.

There was a sudden rush of wind and then horrified screams sounded from inside and outside of the house, but none of them came from Ron, Luna or their friends. Someone appeared beside them and grabbed their arms.

"You must get into the basement quickly. You're injured and you will be killed," he hissed, practically carrying the both of them down into the lit basement where Hermione, Neville, Harry and Devonshire already were. Hermione was clutching Darcy to her chest tightly as he trembled terribly in her arms. She had a nasty head injury where she must have tumbled down the stairs into the basement, but there was more blood on her than the injury produced. Ron was about to say something when Hermione pointed to the corner of the basement. There were four maimed corpses lying in pools of their own blood. Along the walls blood was everywhere, indicating where Hermione had gotten her shocking appearance.

"Where's Ginny?" Ron asked as he was set down beside Neville. "Where's my sister?"

Viorel's whole demeanor changed. His sunken eyes seemed become alive with hellfire and his whole body shook with rage.

"Your sister is safe," he growled before disappearing up the stairs. Ron turned to look at Neville and Harry.

Neville met his gaze.

"They tried to kill Ginny and Roxanne saw the whole thing and got her away from the whole thing before inviting some others from the Asylum over… they're going to slaughter them all…" he whispered grimly. As if to prove his point, a strangled scream ripped through the house, causing them all to shiver. Devonshire raised his wand and flicked it to the door, casting a charm so that they would not have to listen to the massacre.

Hermione leaned into Harry and he pulled her close, closing his eyes as he tried to drown out the screaming that came from upstairs.

"Oh…"

Luna kept glancing over to the dead bodies, tears in her eyes.

"Isn't there something we could do about them?" she asked weakly. Neville motioned for her to come over to where he and Ron were sitting.

"Come over here. You can't see them from here," he whispered. Luna shuffled over and sat between him and Ron.

Hermione met Ron's eyes and could tell he was in a lot of pain.

"Is there anything down here for Ron?" she asked Devonshire. The man nodded and headed to the back of the basement. They heard him rummaging around for a minute before he came back with bandages and a couple vials of dark amber liquid. He handed one to Neville, who also seemed to be in a lot of pain. He then gave Ron one. Ron quickly drank the potion before Luna began to help bandage some of his larger wounds. Hermione glanced up at Harry.

"They know Harry… they know where we are…"

Harry opened his eyes.

"I know… we have to leave…"

"And go where?" Neville asked. "We can't go back to England."

Devonshire shook his head.

"Yes we can… we just can't go back magically…"

Hermione's eyes widened.

"Are you joking?! If Voldemort can get Death Eaters out of England with that Shutdown without being noticed, what else do you think he can do?! He probably has all the stations watching out for Harry!"

"It's our only chance of getting back into England, Hermione," Harry shot back. Hermione pulled away from him and gave him an appalled look.

"Are you _trying_ to get yourself killed, Harry?! You _can't_ get into England without being seen! And the only way to get into England is through muggle transportation! You're going to be a sitting duck!"

Luna looked up suddenly.

"Not unless we make it so that he _is_ seen."

They all stared at her as if she had finally lost her mind.

"What?"

Luna pulled away from Neville and walked over to where Harry and Hermione were sitting. She reached down and casually plucked a few hairs from his head.

"Ouch! What the hell was that for?" he snapped.

Luna held up the hairs.

"What if we make it so that Harry's seen _everywhere_?"

Everyone's eyes widened at the realization of her plan.

"Polyjuice potion," Hermione whispered.

Luna nodded.

"We get a lot of people to look like Harry then have them board every mode of transportation headed for London and the Death Eaters will never know which one's the real one."

Ginny pointed to the back of the basement.

"There's a lot of it back there. Snape gave me some before we left and I've been brewing a lot as well," she said.

Hermione shook her head.

"But that's dangerous. What if they _do_ find the real Harry? Then what? And if they capture one of us?!"

Devonshire shook his head.

"They won't catch one of us. They'll catch a vampire."

"Vampires? Polyjuice potion doesn't _work_ on vampires," Hermione snapped. "Their bodies go through it much quicker than our bodies do. Instead of two hours, they'll be changing back every thirty minutes!"

"That's the point, Hermione," Ron whispered. "You have Harry popping up and then disappearing all over Europe and on the public transportations and no one will know what to do! Harry will get through!"

Hermione frowned.

"No he won't! Even if you do have him popping up everywhere, they're going to figure it out and then they'll just start trying to kill them all until _one_ of them doesn't get back up. Then what?"

"There are tunnels," Devonshire finally said, grabbing a book off of one of the shelves. He opened it and flipped through a few pages before he held it up for all to see. It looked like a blueprint of underground tunnels.

"Where are those?" Ron asked.

Devonshire pointed to one of them.

"Here. This is a network of tunnels the vampires made about five hundred and twenty years ago. I think it's called the Bypass. They go under the English Channel from France to England. It's the perfect way of getting through," he said. "I can't believe I forgot about this."

Neville frowned.

"Wouldn't the Ministry know about this then? Wouldn't it be shut down?"

Devonshire shook his head.

"I talked to Viorel about it and he said that the Ministry presumably had the tunnels destroyed three hundred years ago when England declared that vampires were no longer magical creatures, but he says that one or two of them might have actually survived. There's a lot he didn't really know about it. That part of their history is lost for some reason," he said. "If the tunnel's still there, we could get through."

"_If? If_ the tunnel's still there?" Hermione asked dubiously. "You're going to risk our lives based on the fact that a tunnel _might_ still be there?"

Devonshire shrugged.

"Viroel asked the Ancients about it and they say that there might be one tunnel that is still up, though they do not talk about it for some reason. Viorel didn't know why. If there's a chance that the tunnel might be there then I think we should take it."

Hermione frowned.

"What was the name of the tunnels again?" she asked.

"The Bypass, I think."

Hermione's eyes bulged.

"The Bypass!" Hermione yelped. "The Bypass! Do you have any idea what the Bypass _is_? Do you know _why_ England declared vampires as non-magical creatures three hundred years ago?

They all stared at her.

"Why?" Harry asked. Hermione snatched the book from Devonshire and flipped through it quickly. Her eyes widened when she reached a page filled with Ancient Runes.

"The reason England granted the vampires rights are _because _of these tunnels. Because they were _killing_ each other in these tunnels," she snapped.

Ron frowned.

"Vampires can't die, Hermione-"

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Silly little folklore," she snapped. "Of course vampires can be _killed_. They just can't be killed by mortals. They can be killed by their own kind, though… I'm assuming none of you have ever heard of the Manic?" she asked when she noticed the blank stares. Sighing she continued. "It's a myth that started around four hundred years ago. The Bypass was created because England was inaccessible to vampires because they had no rights to 'apparate' there. They say there was something about the Channel water during those days that changed vampires that were coming through the tunnels. Now, the only way for a vampire to die is if another vampire kills it. But that doesn't happen because vampires never have any reason to _kill_ their own. There's no reason to kill their own and they don't _like_ killing their own," she told them. "But these vampires became hypersensitive to their _own_ kind and started killing other vampires that tried to pass through the tunnels to get into England or France. Soon the vampires stopped coming through the tunnels and the Manic began slaughtering mortals in a couple of magical villages near the entrance to the tunnel. The Ministry decided that, if the vampires could get rid of the Manic, then they'd be granted their rights," she explained. "The Manic were said to have been killed, but do you _honestly_ think that the vampires actually got rid of them?"

"So you think that those tunnels are still filled with Manic?" Luna asked.

Hermione nodded.

"Of course I do. Why else do you think the Ancients destroyed that part of their history? The Manic are a disgrace to the vampire kind, but they're still related. The Ancients probably _did_ destroy most of the tunnels, but I'm pretty sure at least one of them is still infested with those filthy things," she responded.

Harry sat up straighter.

"Well, Hermione, how else do you think we're going to get back to England? With that bloody Shutdown screwing everything up, that tunnel is our only hope of getting back!"

"We could be killed!"

"We'll _be_ killed if we stay here," Neville snapped. "Voldemort knows Harry's in Europe. He probably has every Death Eater from here to Spain searching for us and there's probably more coming _here_. Our only chance of surviving is getting back to England."

It was obvious to all of them that Hermione was extremely against this, but they knew that she had no other choice but to agree. There was no other way to get back to England except through the tunnels or with muggle transportation. Muggle transportation was out of the question for the seven of them so their only hope was through the tunnels.

Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Okay fine… but if those tunnels are all gone, then we stay here in Europe. I will not risk Harry's life on muggle transportation," she snapped angrily.

Ron nodded.

"Okay…"

**A/N: Okay, so a lot of stuff in this chapter. _A lot_ of stuff. This chapter was not that long a week ago. It was half this size. I hope you got the whole thing with the Manic or the agreement between the vampires and Dumbledore. If you haven't then send me a line and I'll try to explain it, but if your question doesn't pertain to the Manic or the agreement, please don't PM me. I've got a lot to do already and I don't have time to answer every single question that might pop up during this chapter. It most likely will be answered in the next couple of chapters, so please be patient. **

**Fyre of the Funeral Pyre:** Yes, they found them, but they didn't last long.

**mgmve2008:** I love the whole Snape and Stephanie relationship to. To be honest, Snape was always my favorite character because even though you know he used to be a Death Eater and that he hated Harry's father and such, you still didn't know that much about him personally. I like that he's not sniping as well.

**nextbestthing:** Well, thanks for refraining from yelling at me. Hopefully this _long_ chapter makes up for it.

**tamara72:** Yes, Tonks and Lupin are a couple, but they don't get much time to themselves.

**wow60:** No Harry is not a vampire and I hope you were satisfied by the R/Hr action I gave you.

**xMidnight Muse:** Hopefully the latter part of this chapter wasn't to hard to read.

**juanli:** I'm a fan as well, which is why I placed the action before all the hell. Enjoy!

**jenny:** Stephanie Warner was Hermione's DADA teacher. She's a telepathic. As for the Hogwarts Express, I just wanted you to use your imagination on how it got out. And as you can see by this chapter, they are definitely not seperated. Hopefully you're not confused anymore.

**Chapter Tease: Because you guys already haven't had enough to read. :-)**

_"Where's Severus?" she asked._

**_He's here._**

_"You're lying," she whispered. "Don't lie to me."_

_There was a pause in which all of the shadows stopped moving and she could feel them watching her. _

_Was she more aware of things than they had realized?_

**_He's in Azkaban._**


	24. To Be Continued

_Sometimes I fall asleep and then I lose control  
I try to find my way out without letting go  
And will I lose my mind If It comes back this time?  
If I don't turn out perfect will you be a friend of mine?_

**Slow Bleed by Thousand Foot Krutch**

* * *

It took one hour for the house to be cleared of all dead bodies and then to be scrubbed down with bleach and ammonia to be rid of the stench. The vampires had done all the work. The others stayed outside until it was okay to go back inside.

When the mortals were asked about the tunnels, Viorel had instantly sided with Hermione, saying that it was a bad idea. Devonshire insisted on talking to the Ancients about it and after a discussion with them, the Ancients had agreed to provide a guard for them to go through the Bypass. The only thing that unnerved the mortals about this whole thing was the unwillingness of the Ancients to discuss in detail what might _happen_ if they did go through the Bypass.

Ginny, who had been taken to the Asylum to be looked after, had been returned in perfect condition, a look of fear in her eyes as she rushed for Harry and knocked him down with her hug. Devonshire and Ron explained their plan to Roxanne, who immediately agreed to it. Thirty vampires offered up their services to be fake Harry Potters while the division Roxanne had mentioned was sent to be their guard. One of the Ancients, little boy, Constantine, was head of the guard.

"We must go quickly," Roxanne told them as they stood in the foyer of the old house. Polyjuice potion had been handed out and the vampires who were going to take them were already waiting in France for their chance. Constantine was outside in the snow with the twenty others that were going to guard them. Viorel helped Ginny bring the remaining potions up from the basement, placing them in a special bag so that they would not get damaged. They each carried a backpack, but that was all they were allowed. When they were in the Bypass they would have to move quickly.

"We're coming," Ron muttered, snatching Darcy up from the ground before he could scamper off up stairs. He handed the little creature to Hermione with a wane smile before looking over at Harry, who was helping Luna with her bag.

"You ready?"

Harry nodded and they left the house. It was a humorous sight to see when they came out. The vampires, because of their lack of feeling, were wearing summer garbs while standing in the freezing cold snow, bright smiles on each of their faces. Their skin seemed to melt in with the snow around them, occasionally sticking out by the shadows cast from the forest surrounding the house. Constantine, despite his actual age, was adorable because his five-year-old body was waist deep in the snow while the snow barely reached the others' knees.

"We must be moving," the Ancient said quickly as he approached the small group. "Two of my scouts say that ten more of your friends are on their way here and we would prefer not to make this site a place of death."

Devonshire nodded.

"How are we going to get to France?" he asked.

Constantine snapped his tiny fingers and a deathly pale woman approached. She handed him a beautiful crystal cross and he handed it to Devonshire.

"We will meet you in France," Constantine said before he turned to his division. He gave them all a small nod and all of them dissolved into nothingness. Viorel and Roxanne turned to the group.

"You are sure you want to do this?" Viorel asked. "It is a suicidal run."

"It's better than waiting around for Voldemort," Harry muttered. Hermione glanced over at him.

"Harry, they were talking about themselves. It's more dangerous for them than it is for us," she whispered. "The Manic will attack the vampires before they decide to touch us."

"Oh… sorry," Harry muttered. Roxanne shook her head.

"Do not worry about us, Hermione," she said. "If all goes well, the Manic will not attack at all."

"Are you ready?" Viorel asked as the two stepped away from them. Devonshire held out the cross for all of them to touch.

"One… two… three!"

* * *

Stephanie opened her eyes and immediately knew something was wrong. The room she had fallen asleep in was not the room she was in now. This room was colder. Much colder. She could see her breath rising from her lips as she blinked quickly to become adapted to the large amount of light that filtered through the glass walls that surrounded her. On the other side of the walls she could make out dark figures walking around and she could hear snippets of conversations that resounded off of the glass. She was sitting in a chair, she knew that much, but she couldn't remember how she had gotten there.

_What is your name?_

"What?" she asked weakly. Her mouth was dry and her head was starting to hurt.

_What is your name?_

"Stephanie Warner," she heard herself answer.

_Do you know where you are?_

"The Department of Mysteries…"

_Do you know why you are here?_

"Because I'm a telepathic…"

_And?_

"It's my duty…"

The voice did not respond. Stephanie looked around, trying to identify the figures on the other side of the walls, but the bright lights that shown on her prevented her from seeing anything but shadows.

"Where's Severus?" she asked.

_He's here._

"You're lying," she whispered. "Don't lie to me."

There was a pause in which all of the shadows stopped moving and she could feel them watching her.

Was she more aware of things than they had realized?

_He's in Azkaban_.

This only made her angry. The glass began to pulse around her, matching her rising heart beat as she grasped the chair handles tightly.

"_Stop lying_… tell me where he is…"

There was another momentary silence.

_We don't know._

Her heart beat slowed and the glass stopped moving.

"He escaped."

_Yes._

"How?"

_We don't know. He escaped from Azkaban._

"Oh… okay…"

If her head had not been in so much pain, she would have smiled.

Why did her head hurt so much?

_Stephanie, you need to sit still now._

"Why?"

_Because we need you to find something for us._

"I can't do that."

_Yes you can._

"I'm not stable."

_But you have the potential to be._

Stephanie suddenly realized what was going on and she didn't like it. She closed her eyes and immediately began shutting them out. She could not have them in her head, but the harder she tried the more it hurt. She could hear them moving around the glass prison, shouting commands to get back into her head.

_Stephanie, stop being difficult! You know what you're supposed to do!_

"I'm not stable," she mumbled as she kept her eyes shut. She needed to block out the voice. "I'm not stable. I'm not stable."

_We can make you stable._

"I don't want to be stable! Leave me alone!"

_You're breaking the promise your kind made to this Ministry years ago, Stephanie. Your kind promised to help us in times of war and you're breaking that promise._

"I'm not stable! I can't help!"

_YES YOU CAN!_

It was like a drill had been driven through both her ears at the same time, forcing unimaginable pain through her body like fire. She tried to move but the chair held her still and when she screamed it only made things worse.

_Concentrate, Stephanie. Focus on Voldemort!_

"I can't! Please stop!" she cried. "I don't want to do this!"

_Concentrate! The faster you cooperate the faster this ends!_

The drilling only got worse. Her brain was on fire and no matter how much she tried to concentrate the pain made it impossible. She could feel tears running down her face as they increased the intensity of whatever curse they were using.

_Stephanie, concentrate!_

"Go away!"

_NOW!_

Stephanie felt a surge of energy flow from her heart to her brain and in an instant she felt everything stop. Her heart stopped beating and her blood stopped pumping as she opened her eyes and white light filtered through.

She was in the forests somewhere. There was a train track and on it was the Hogwarts Express. Whoever she was moved away from the train into the woods where a camp was set up. The person approached the main tent and stood at the door. Pain flooded her instantly as she felt the presence of evil, the she forced herself to stay because the pain of not staying would be worse.

"What is it?"

"We've just gotten word from Romania that the vampires have decided to side with Dumbledore. They killed the men we sent over to get Potter also," the person said. Stephanie could sense the fear running through the man's body as he stood before Voldemort, hoping he wouldn't die.

"Where is Harry now?"

"We don't know sir."

"You don't know?"

"No sir. We lost track of him right after-"

"_Avada Kerdava!_"

Stephanie let out a scream of excruciating pain as she was jerked back into her reality. The pain became even worse when those outside the glass box began firing the same curse at her.

_Tell us what you saw, Stephanie._

"NO!" she sobbed. "Please! I can't!"

_Stephanie, don't be stubborn. Tell us._

"I can't! I need Severus!"

_That's not true, Stephanie. You know that's not true! Now tell us before you forget!_

Stephanie closed her eyes and tried to make sense of what she had just seen.

_Go through the stages and tell me._

Her eyes popped open at the voice.

"Severus," she gasped. "I can't do this…"

_It's going to be okay, Stephanie… just tell them what they need to know._

"But I can't… I can only tell you…"

_Then tell me. Please, just do it for me…_

Stephanie felt the pain begin to go away and she instantly knew something was wrong.

"STOP IT! DON'T LIE TO ME! I KNOW HE ISN'T HERE!" she screamed.

_TELL US!_

Waves upon waves of searing pain ran through her head and down her spine, causing unbelievable agony to every part of her body. She wanted it to stop.

"Voldemort's in the forests! He just found out that the vampires have decided to join with Dumbledore. Harry escaped Voldemort's trap," she sobbed, pulling on the bonds that held her to her chair. The pain suddenly increased.

_Concentrate on Harry! Tell us where Harry Potter is!_

"I CAN'T!"

On the other side of the glass, Henry Dreyfus pointed to the man who was communicating with Stephanie.

"I want to know where Potter is. Get us that information," he hissed.

"But sir," the man protested. "She's already in enough pain. We increase it any more and we could kill her."

"I don't care!" Dreyfus hissed. "I want to know where Potter is _now_!" He then turned to leave the large observation room. Two of his officials followed him out. "I want Dumbledore in my office immediately," he growled. "If Albus thinks he can create a vampire army against me, he's got another thing coming."

"What about Voldemort, sir?" one of the officials asked. "What are we going to do about him?"

Dreyfus shook his head.

"Let Moody deal with Voldemort," he responded. "As far as I'm concerned, Albus Dumbledore is the bigger problem at the moment."

* * *

"George!" Alicia shouted as she entered the shop, attracting the attention of several customers. The twin popped up from behind the counter and smiled.

"Hey beautiful! What brings you here?" he asked cheerfully. Alicia frowned.

"Lee told me about the attack on the Burrow yesterday. Why are you _here_?" she asked, coming around the counter to examine him better. George pulled away, shaking his head.

"I'm fine, Lici," he insisted, a big smile on his face. "But I could be better," he added with a suggestive eyebrow. Alicia's eyes grew big.

"How could you possibly think about snogging when you were attacked yesterday? I was worried sick about you! I can't believe you're even here!" she snapped.

"What's all the racket?" Fred asked as he came out from the back room. When he caught sight of Alicia, he grinned. "Hey Alicia. What brings you here?"

Alicia placed both hands on her hips.

"You two," she snapped. "You two are incorrigible. The Burrow was attacked yesterday and you two are here at the store!"

Fred shrugged.

"We're not about to shut down business just because a couple of gits decided to turn the Burrow into Swiss cheese, Alicia," he said.

She shook her head.

"But you should have told me," she snapped, turning to George. "I was worried and so is Angelina."

Fred paled.

"Oh."

"Oh is right," Alicia hissed. "She's with your mother right now, but trust me, she'll have a few words for you when you see her."

George pulled Alicia to him.

"Come on, Lici," he muttered. "I'm fine and so is Fred, so you shouldn't be so upset."

Alicia turned so that she was completely in his arms.

"I'm upset because you didn't tell me," she snapped. George leaned in and tried to kiss her but she turned her head so that his lips caressed her cheek.

"Oh come on," he murmured into her skin. "I'm sorry."

Alicia looked up at him.

"I know…" she whispered before leaning up and kissing him.

"Where is Lee anyway?" Fred asked as he moved past the couple to the register. Alicia glanced over at him.

"He's with Katie at Hogwarts. They're helping get the kids out," she told him. She gave George a quick kiss on the lips before pulling away and going to the door. "I'll see you two later. My parents were evacuated out of Muggle London and I have to go see if they're okay."

George frowned.

"Do you want me to come along?"

Alicia opened the door and shook her head.

"No, I'll be fine," she said before disappearing out the door and down the street. George was about to say something to Fred when an explosion a couple blocks down shook the entire store.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Fred yelled as George ran to the door and looked outside.

"Someone just blew up Gringotts!" he shouted. "ALICIA!"

The young woman was running towards him, or rather stumbling, her eyes filled with fear. The side of her face was bleeding badly. Many others were coming from the same direction, screaming and running.

"DEATH EATERS!" one man screamed.

"ALICIA!" George screamed again. He was about to run out to her, but Fred yanked him back just as another explosion occurred. Rubble fell everywhere and broke many of the windows on the street as two buildings were blown up. The twins waited until the dust cleared.

"Oh my God," Fred murmured. Twenty Death Eaters were running towards them, shooting people down and destroying stores as they went. George caught sight of Alicia, who was trapped beneath some rocks. He broke away from Fred and ran to her, shoving away the rubble that held her down.

"George, they're coming!" Fred shouted. George looked up and saw two Death Eaters getting very close. He then looked down at Alicia and grabbed her torso, pulling her up. She cried out in pain and he stopped, pulling out his wand.

"This is going to hurt," he said before shouting the curse. Alicia let out another cry as George grabbed her up into his arms and carried her back to the shop. Fred was already waiting there for them.

"Come on!" he hissed and the two disapparated with Alicia.

* * *

"Mum! MUM!" George screamed when they finally arrived at Grimmald Place. Mrs. Weasley appeared with Angelina right behind her.

"Oh my goodness!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed upon seeing Alicia in his arms. "What happened?"

"Diagon Alley was attacked," Fred explained as they set Alicia down in the living room on the couch. "She got trapped under a building."

"Are you two okay?" Angelina asked, kneeling down and taking Alicia's hand.

"We're fine, help her!" George begged, holding Alicia's face in his hands as she cried. "Please! Mum!"

Mrs. Weasley motioned to Angelina and Fred.

"Go get the potions and some towels," she ordered before she ran to the kitchen. The Grangers came down from upstairs after hearing the commotion and gasped.

"Oh my! What happened?" Mr. Granger asked quickly, moving over to the couch.

"There was an attack," George explained quickly as he continued to hold Alicia.

"Is she going to be okay?" Mrs. Granger asked. Mrs. Weasley entered with a large basin filled with hot water. She nodded.

"She'll be fine once we clean up all this dirt," she said, taking the towels Angelina handed her. She dipped one of the towels into the basin and then began to wrap them around Alicia's legs before she moved to her chest.

"George, she'll be fine," Fred whispered, indicating to his brother that he should move. George nodded and after giving Alicia a kiss on the forehead, he left, but not before everyone saw the tears in his eyes. Angelina leaned into Fred and held him close.

"I'm fine, Angel," he whispered, kissing her brow. Angelina buried her face in his chest and sighed.

"I know… I'm just scared… everything's falling apart, Fred," she whispered. "I don't want anything to happen to you."

"You don't need to worry about me, Angelina," he told her, pulling away so he could look into her eyes. "You really don't."

Angelina reached out and touched his face.

"That's the problem, Fred," she said. "You and George were just attacked yesterday and against your mother's orders you went to work anyway. You take too many risks and I'm afraid that'll get you into trouble." When Fred raised an eye to her statement she rolled her eyes at him. "More trouble than usual, you dolt," she snapped, hitting him in the arm before she moved over to the couch and kneeled down beside Alicia, holding her hand. Fred went to the kitchen and found George sitting at the kitchen table, head in hands.

"You praying?"

"No."

"Then what are you doing?"

"Rethinking my priorities."

"And?"

George shrugged.

"Well… Lee and Katie are getting married right?"

"Right."

George looked up.

"Maybe we should make it a triple wedding."

* * *

"How long have we been walking?" Luna asked quietly for the fifth time since they'd entered the Bypass.

"Two hours," Roxanne replied. "Do you require a break?"

Devonshire shook his head.

"No break," he snapped. "We need to keep going."

Ginny groaned.

"We've been walking for two hours through the cold and jagged rocks and we haven't eaten a thing. Could we _please_ stop?"

Devonshire sighed.

"Fine. But only for ten minutes."

The teenagers all groaned but Devonshire did not yield. Viorel began to move towards the darkness and out of the wand light.

"I'll go ahead and tell Constantine that you have decided to rest for a moment," he said before disappearing. Hermione sat down beside Neville and pulled Darcy out of her backpack. She set him down on the rocks before she looked around.

The Bypass, unlike the Asylum, was more primitive. The tunnel had not been used for years and certain parts had collapsed, placing hazardous rocks in their path. The only thing preventing them from hurting themselves was the light from their wands. The vampires would not allow firelight. It would only attract unwanted guests. They were also forced to keep their voices down to a bare whisper. The place was deathly quiet so to speak normally would sound like screaming.

Constantine and his division had split up into two groups. One that would go ahead of the group of mortals and one that would stay behind the small group in case the first group missed something. They had not encountered any Manic yet, but Constantine had warned against any unnecessary actions until they had exited the Bypass.

"How much longer do we have until we're out?" Harry asked.

"Most likely two or three more hours. We're going much slower to accommodate your speed, but hopefully we will make it through before any Manic show up," Roxanne whispered.

"If there _are_ any Manic," Hermione muttered. "They might not even be around anymore."

"Well they couldn't have died off," Ron said. "Where could they have gone?"

"They haven't gone anywhere," Viorel said, materializing in the midst of them. "They're probably still down here somewhere, waiting."

Neville frowned.

"I thought vampires needed blood to survive," he said.

Roxanne shook her head.

"A common misconception set up by years of degrading Muggle movies, biased folklore and love stories meant to romanticize the horrible reality of our situation," she snapped irritably. It was easy for them all to see that she had had this conversation many times before. "We do not attack on a whim, many of us actually are Christians, some of us live among humans effectively and a few are married to humans and we _do not sparkle_. And to counter the biggest and most upsetting myth of all, vampires _can_ survive for centuries without blood," she explained. "However, a bunch of abstaining vampires live for centuries without a drop of blood can lose it sometimes. It doesn't help when they start attacking innocent muggles either, so it's just not the smartest or the safest thing to do and it is the reason we get such a bad reputation."

"Why not?"

"The bloodlust is still there. If you haven't had food for weeks and suddenly you catch a whiff of a succulent roast beef, cooked to perfection, how would you respond?"

"I'd do anything to get it," Ron said quietly, attracting all the attention. He shrugged. "I would."

Roxanne nodded.

"Think of that feeling magnified a thousand times over and you would only begin to understand the dangerous lust that flow through a vampire who has not fed for years."

"Wouldn't they have reverted back though?" Hermione asked gently, reaching out and grabbing Darcy before she continued to speak. "After all these years, wouldn't they have just gone back to drinking human blood?"

Viorel shook his head, watching the little creature struggle around in Hermione's arms.

"They have not left the Bypass," he told them grimly. "They're still here… waiting for any vampire that would try to get by."

"What is it about vampire flesh that the Manic find so appealing?" Luna asked curiously. They all stared at her like she'd lost her mind while Roxanne and Viorel smiled.

"I'll tell you when we meet one," Viorel whispered with a chuckle.

"Hopefully that's never," Ginny grumbled as she leaned into her brother as they sat on a rock near by. Ron smiled and put an arm around her.

"Well, at least we've made it this far," he said.

Neville snorted.

"I'll be happy when we've made it _out_ of here," he responded.

"I'll agree to that," Harry muttered.

Luna looked around the large rock walls.

"I wonder how Harry's duplicates did," she said.

Ron snorted and stood up.

"Did you see them? I don't think the Death Eaters fell for them," he said.

"Why would you say that?" Harry asked.

Ron grinned.

"Those copies of you were much better looking than you," he answered. Ron ducked when Harry chucked a rock at him.

"Hey, no unnecessary noises," Viorel growled. "We don't need you triggering any sort of attack."

Harry muttered an apology before Devonshire stood up.

"Okay, time to go."

They all groaned. They all stood up slowly and began to trudge along again. Neville hung back a little to talk with Luna.

"You okay?" he asked. She glanced up at him before she went back to watching her step.

"I'm fine, Neville," she whispered.

"You sure?"

She frowned.

"Why?"

Neville shrugged as he moved around some particularly sharp looking rocks.

"You haven't said much to anyone since-"

"The Asylum?"

Neville nodded silently and Luna remained quiet for a while, contemplating her words before she spoke.

"Those people," she whispered. "Even though they were bad, they were still… killed in the worse way possible…" She shrugged. "I guess if I'm afraid that if it's a reality for them, it could be a reality for us."

"The vampires wouldn't hurt us though," Neville whispered.

Luna pointed to the walls.

"But the Manic would, Neville," she muttered back. "They could kill us all so easily…" She looked up at him. "I don't want any of you to end up like the men in the basement."

Neville reached out and took her hand, squeezing it comfortingly.

"You won't lose us," he murmured. Luna tried to smile but failed miserably and instead grimaced. Neville could not help but laugh at the look.

"What?" Luna asked.

Neville shook his head.

"Nothing…" he muttered. "You just looked funny, that's all."

Luna leaned into him and sighed.

"Well, at least someone can find humor in this situation."

Neville shrugged.

"It's all we have."

Luna leaned up and kissed his cheek before she moved on ahead.

"I don't think it's all we have," she said over her shoulder.

* * *

Dreyfus and Dumbledore looked up when an official entered the office.

"Dreyfus, we have a problem with the telepathic," the woman said quickly. Dreyfus glanced over at Dumbledore before standing up.

"Come Albus. Let me show you something," he said.

* * *

_Stephanie, tell me what you saw._

"NO!"

_Stephanie, the pain will only get worse until you do_.

"I'm tired! I don't want to do this anymore!" she cried. "Please stop! Please!"

_Stephanie!_

"IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!"

_Tell me where Harry is!_

"Harry's everywhere!"

_What do you mean, he's everywhere_?

"The Death Eaters. They say he's popping up everywhere! I don't understand it," she sobbed. "They say that he's on the trains and planes and everywhere!"

_Well then, find Harry! Find Harry Potter!_

"I can't!"

_Why not?_

"Because I can't!"

On the other side, Dreyfus turned to one of the Unspeakables.

"What is she talking about? Why can't she find Potter?" he demanded.

The man, Denis Gravin, stepped up to the glass wall and watched Stephanie as she cried in her chair.

"Well… telepathics have certain restrictions, Dreyfus. If Potter's popping up everywhere, then she won't be able to find him."

"How is Potter popping up everywhere?"

Dumbledore smiled at the question, despite the terrible situation, and Dreyfus caught it.

"Albus, tell me! Tell me what you know!"

Dumbledore shook his head.

"I don't know anything, Henry," he said, his eyes twinkling behind his half-mooned spectacles. "I just have a very good reason to believe that it is not Harry who is popping up everywhere, but _copies_ of Harry."

Dreyfus's eyes widened.

"Polyjuice Potion."

Dumbledore nodded.

"Very ingenious actually."

Dreyfus turned to look at Stephanie.

"But if it's just Polyjuice Potion, then why can't she find him?"

"Telepathics focus on a person by their face, Dreyfus," Gravin explained. "If multiple Harrys are popping up everywhere, she can't focus on just one of them."

Dreyfus pointed to the man in communication with Stephanie.

"Tell her to find Ronald Weasley. He's one of Potter's friends."

The man nodded and placed his wand to his head. Dumbledore turned to Dreyfus.

"Henry, you really must stop this. She needs to rest and you need to slow down. You're focusing on the wrong thing. Voldemort just attacked Diagon Alley only two hours ago. You should be focused on finding him."

Dreyfus pointed to two Aurors.

"See that Headmaster Dumbledore finds his way back to his precious school again. I'm sure there's an evacuation he needs to be _focused_ on."

_Stephanie. I need you to find someone else for us._

"Who?"

_Ronald Weasley._

"Why?"

_Your job is not to ask questions, Stephanie, now do as you're told._

To avoid any increase in pain, Stephanie tried to concentrate on Ron. She tried desperately to find him, but all she could see was flashes of white light.

"I can't see him," she gasped.

_Try harder_.

"I'm trying!"

_No you're not. If you were trying, you would have found him already_.

"That's not fair!"

Instantly her body was filled with sharp, needle-like pain that drove through her core like wild fire. She could hear herself screaming, but it seemed so far away as the white light quickly filled with images of a dark, cold place underground. Once again the presence of evil brought pain into her, but she forced herself to stay as things became clearer.

"The exit to the Bypass is only a couple of miles from here. We'll be there in about half an hour or so," a tall woman whispered. The person she was looking through turned to look at Ronald Weasley, who was walking close by.

"Where are we going to be going when we get out?" the person asked.

Ronald glanced behind him to where Harry Potter was walking with Ginerva Weasley.

"Probably the Burrow," Ronald said. "Hopefully Mum or Dad will be there."

"Do you think my parents will be there?"

Ronald offered a smile.

"I'm sure your parents are either at the Burrow or at Harry's place with Remus and Tonks. Where ever they are, they're safe."

The person Stephanie was looking through reached out and took Ron's hand, squeezing it tightly before looking ahead again.

"Thanks, Ron…"

It was like a jolt of electricity shocked her heart and brain out of the vision. Her sobs vibrated off of the glass around her as she was enveloped with more pain.

_Stephanie, what did you see?_

"Severus," she sobbed. "Please! I need to have him here!"

_Stephanie, you need to stop this childish behavior and do as you're told._

"Leave me alone!"

_Go through the stages!_

"I… I don't know!"

_STOP LYING AND TELL US WHAT YOU SAW!_

The glass shattered and Stephanie screamed as one last burst of electricity shot through her. Everything seemed to stop as she stared into nothingness, her body giving out.

"The Bypass," she murmured. "They're coming through the Bypass…"

Then everything went dark…

**A/N: A very interesting chapter to say the least. A lot of troubling stuff going on. Hopefully you'll enjoy it. **

**Fyre of the Funeral Pyre:** Well, I'm not going to say what happened with Severus but I will say that I'm sure you'll love what I have planned next.

**nextbestthing:** Hopefully my discriptions of the Bypass have met up to your imagination.

**ObsessedRHShipper:** I guess I was so busy getting in a lot of information I forgot about the little things like wands. I'll see if I can do a bit more on that.

**mgmve2008:** I added that scene with Luna and Neville because of you. Hope you liked it. I was thinking about showing the vampires turn into Harry, but I thought that would take up too much time.

**jenny:** The tunnels are going to get even more interesting.

**tamara72:** There will be a little more R/Hr interaction. I think you'll like it.

**ronandmion4ever:** It is a _bit_ geeky, but that's okay. The whole bed scene was my favorite scene also. Well, I'm glad you liked the chapter, even though action isn't your thing. I liked the stupidness of the Ministry as well. I like the idea of making Kingsley the Minister of Magic, but I also like chaos (as you may already know). We'll keep Kingsley out of the position for a while. Hope you review before the next update!

**Sorry, no chapter tease. My documents are all on another computer I'll try to update as quickly as possible. **


	25. Forgetting Who We Are

_He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster._ **-Friedrich Nietzsche**

* * *

"I'm sorry, sir, but I can't wake her up," the Healer snapped furiously. "You pushed her too hard and now she's locked down!"

"You should be able to wake her up! You've done it before in the past!" Dreyfus growled back. "She's important property!"

The Healer looked outraged.

"Property? She's a _human being_, Dreyfus, not some toy you can just break and glue back together when you want to! She was in pain and she locked herself down so that she wouldn't feel anymore! How could you be so calloused?"

"Wake. Her. Up," Dreyfus snarled, pointing to Stephanie Warner's prone body. The Healer shook her head.

"I _can't_," she hissed. "We need her Overseer, but I'm guessing he's either in Azkaban like everyone else or he's escaped like the smart man that he is."

Dreyfus shoved a finger in the woman's face.

"You'll be sharing a cell next to him when we find him," he growled. "Now deal with her!"

"Go to hell, Dreyfus," the Healer snapped. "You're not the Minister."

With that said, the woman went to the door and opened it.

"Get out before I call security," she hissed.

Dreyfus let out a growl and stormed out of the hospital room and into the hall where Dumbledore was waiting for him with a few other officials.

"Dreyfus, there are reporters all over this place," one of the officials snapped. "And Moody's saying that there are Death Eaters popping up close by. He thinks there may be an attack."

Dreyfus snorted.

"Voldemort's been threatening to attack this place for days. If he were going to do it, he would have," he said as they stood in the crowded hallway. Dumbledore shook his head.

"Henry, you need to let me see Stephanie. She needs to be taken care of properly," he said.

Dreyfus smiled knowingly and shook his head.

"I don't think so, Albus. There's no way in hell I'm letting you in there so that you can just disappear with her," he snapped as he began to walk away. "You're still under investigation for helping Snape."

"Henry, are you listening to yourself? You're focusing on the wrong things! Voldemort should be your number one priority but you're worrying about an unstable telepathic! You'll kill her!"

Dreyfus whirled around and glared at Dumbledore.

"I DON'T CARE!" he roared. "If she has to die so that this screwed up country can be put back together, then so be it! I will not have insubordination during this time! And you will not oppose me on this or so help me God I will see you in Azkaban!"

* * *

"I believe we have one more mile to go," Roxanne whispered.

"Really?" Harry asked.

Roxanne nodded.

"It's gotten louder down here," she replied softly. "We're reaching the surface again…"

Hermione snorted.

"You're the only one who would notice that it's gotten louder," she said, pulling Darcy out of her backpack and placing him on her shoulder so he could stretch a little. The little creature yawned before nipping Hermione's ear affectionately.

"Shh!" Viorel hissed suddenly. Harry turned his wand to face the vampire and they all saw the man staring ahead, eyes troubled.

"What is it?" Ron asked quietly.

Viorel held up his hand for them to be quiet and a moment later two men materialized out of the darkness, gliding quickly over the rocks and into the better light of the wands held up by the teenagers.

"Kale, Dennis," Roxanne whispered. "What's going on?"

It was easy for the mortals to see that something had the vampires shaken. Kale, the bigger of the two males, stepped forward.

"Constantine believes that the Manic are up ahead," he murmured. "He thinks they may be waiting for us up there."

"That would explain why we haven't had any occurrences so far," Viorel whispered before frowning. "Why would the Manic be by the entrance? They've never come so close to the surface before."

Dennis shook his head.

"That doesn't matter, Viorel," he hissed. "The way to the entrance is narrow and we cannot take all of them at the same time. Constantine is just a few meters ahead with the first half. We will take four of the mortals with us and the other three will go ahead with the second half."

Devonshire frowned.

"Wait, you're going to separate us?" he asked. "Why the hell would you do that?"

Roxanne moved in front of Devonshire to block him from Dennis's glare.

"It would be safer for you seven if you were separated," she whispered quickly. "The Manic may be after vampire flesh, but if they smell seven living beings together, they will attack you first. Bloodlust is still a primal thing to the Manic."

Kale moved past the group.

"I am going to get the other group. Have yourselves divided and ready to move. We must get to the entrance as quickly as possible to avoid any casualties," he hissed before disappearing into the darkness. Viorel turned to the group.

"Well?"

Devonshire shook his head.

"I don't like this. Splitting us up can't be a good thing," he said.

Viorel pointed ahead of them.

"You will be killed if you do not divide, William," he growled. "Do you want these children to die?"

Ginny placed a hand on Devonshire's arm.

"It'll be okay. We just move fast and get out of here. It's not that far," she whispered. Devonshire sighed and nodded.

"Okay… Harry, you go first with Ginny, Luna and Neville. Hermione and Ron will come with me and the last group," he said clearly. Roxanne moved over with Ginny and guided her over to where Dennis was standing.

"Come, we must move quickly. Constantine is just beyond these rocks," she said softly before she and Dennis led the four out of sight. Soon not even their wand light could be seen through the unnatural darkness of the Bypass. It seemed to get much colder at the loss of the four and the last three became encompassed by the chilling company of past death and imminent carnage. The entire tunnel had felt like passing through a grave yard and it was not getting easier. Though the temperature was getting colder as the moved along, the air seemed to be charged with an abnormal and unwanted sensation of foreboding, giving all three mortals a bad feeling about what was to come.

Hermione leaned into Ron and felt him kiss her brow.

"It'll be okay," he whispered. Hermione twisted a little in his arms and kissed his neck before she picked up Darcy and placed him back into her backpack.

"I know," she murmured, glancing up at him with a weak smile. "I'm still worried about them…"

Ron leaned in and kissed her lips quickly, savoring the taste of her before he pulled away.

"Me too," he whispered into her ear. He felt her shiver beside him and he had a strange and elating feeling that it had nothing to do with their cold surroundings.

Viorel looked behind them.

"Here they come," he whispered and they turned to see the second half of Constantine's division appear out of the darkness. Many of them eyed the three carefully but said nothing as Kale and a female named Charlotte came forward.

"We should go. Constantine is already close to the exit," Charlotte whispered before moving past the group. Viorel moved over to the group.

"You must move quickly," he hissed, giving Hermione a little shove ahead. Three vampires moved in between herself and Ron, who was about to protest to the separation. "You cannot stand near one another. We will stand between the three of you to hopefully mask your scent enough so that they will not bother with you."

Hermione glanced behind her in time to catch a glimpse of Ron before a hulking male, Giovanni, blocked him from view as they began to move through the tunnel that was rapidly getting smaller by the moment. No one said a word as they moved through the narrow crevices. Occasionally Ron would hear Hermione let out a gasp as she stumbled over some rock, but he kept his mouth shut when the male in front of him shot him a menacing glare.

"Stop," Viorel hissed quickly, though it was hard not to catch a hint of eagerness in his voice as well. "Hermione's bleeding."

The vampires around them all went stiff as Hermione's blood scent became more potent with every second that passed by. Ron and Devonshire immediately tried to get to her, but Giovanni, the male in front of Ron, prevented them from getting closer to her.

"Stay away. If the Manic catch wind of her, _you_ two will be the first to go," he growled dangerously, pushing them away from her.

"Hermione, are you okay?" she heard Ron ask, his voice filled with concern. Hermione glanced up from her cut hand.

"I'm fine, Ron," she said. "I just nicked my hand on a rock."

Viorel pointed to the rock she had cut herself on.

"Clean that up quickly," he hissed. "We can't let the smell move past us."

The small space in which they stood quickly filled with the stench of bleach as the rock was quickly cleaned. Devonshire was allowed to quickly heal most of Hermione's wound with his wand before Charlotte wrapped it up in a matter of seconds.

"Thank you," she whispered as Charlotte finished with the bandage. The female nodded.

"Try to be careful," she murmured before returning to Kale's side in front. Viorel eyed Hermione cautiously.

"We don't have that much farther," he told them before he turned and they continued through the narrow pathway. They walked for a while before Kale stopped, as still as the rocks around him.

"Something's wrong," he hissed. "Constantine's stopped."

"If it was the Manic they would have told us," Viorel muttered. "Someone must be injured."

Kale shook his head, leaning forward and sniffing the air.

"No… it's started to rain… I would have smelt it by now," he murmured. "Something's stalled them."

"What do you think it is?" Charlotte asked.

Kale began to move out of the wand light.

"I'll go see. Stay here," he murmured before disappearing completely. Hermione wrapped her arms around herself and shivered a little, causing a couple of the vampires near her to jerk. It was an action they were not used to.

"You okay, Hermione?" Ron asked again, having noticed the change in the vampires' position around her. Hermione felt comforted by his concern and smiled.

"I'm fine, Ron, just cold. You?"

She heard him snort.

"Well, you know me," he muttered. "Enjoying the sights and sounds… or lack thereof…"

"We'll make it out and then you'll have more to look at," she whispered softly. "The Burrow for starters… your family… maybe even Hogwarts…"

"I love your optimism," Ron muttered.

"I love you."

It was not until things had gone completely silent that Hermione realized that she had said the last part aloud. In the few minutes that things were quiet Hermione grew completely red under the dead eyes of the vampires around her. Giovanni actually laughed a deep amused laugh that shook the rocks around them a little.

"Believe me young girl, he feels the same way," he chuckled. "He's just a little stunned."

This only made Hermione even more embarrassed about her outburst as the large male added something unnecessarily rude about love and mortals. To that comment, she heard Ron grumble something that sounded familiar to her admission, except it was not meant for her to hear. Giovanni laughed again at Ron's irritation and looked down at Hermione.

"The boy has an interest in shagging you," he chortled. Hermione's eyes widened in shock and Ron swore loudly.

"You arse," the redhead snapped. "I did _not_ say that. I said I loved her."

There was another silence before Charlotte could be heard muttering something about last minute confessions. A couple of other vampires chuckled at the comment, glancing at Ron and Hermione occasionally.

"Why do you mortals always confess your true feelings when something bad or fatal might happen?" Charlotte asked aloud. "Why can't you just admit how you feel when you feel it?"

"We're complicated," Hermione muttered.

Giovanni snorted.

"Complicated? Try living forever, dear," he whispered. "Then you'll see how complicated things can get. You only have a limited amount of time to love, shag and grow old."

Ron snorted.

"Yes, because that's what it's all about," he grumbled.

Giovanni raised an eyebrow.

"So you don't want to shag Hermione?"

Hermione heard Ron mutter something to the male about minding his own business, but she did not have to see him to know that his ears had grown the telltale red that gave him away every single time. Giovanni grinned.

"So she's one of those types."

Hermione frowned.

"One of what types? I'm right here, you know," she snapped irately. Giovanni glanced down at her.

"Celibate, marriage sorts," he replied. Hermione crossed her arms across her chest.

"What's wrong with that? What's wrong with _waiting_?"

Her question was directed more to Ron than the large man in front of her. Ron realized that quickly and he spoke up.

"Nothing's wrong with waiting," he whispered rapidly. "I never said anything was."

Giovanni grinned.

"Of course he's going to say that."

Ron bristled.

"Look, I love her and I'm not about to ruin that by pushing her," he snapped. "So shove off."

Giovanni, instead of being upset, shook the sides of the passageway with his laugh. Hermione bit her lip and tried not to smile at Ron's irritated retaliation. It was comforting for Hermione to hear Ron express the sentiments she had accidentally said earlier even if it was not necessarily for her benefit. At least something good had come out of the Bypass.

Hermione tried to catch a glimpse of Ron, but the large male continued to block her view.

Someone coughed.

"How much further?" she heard Devonshire ask after another moment. She could see the light coming from his wand bouncing off of the rocks around him, but she could not see him.

"Ten, fifteen minutes," Charlotte muttered, eyes still on the spot where Kale had disappeared. "What did Constantine say?"

Hermione jerked at the question before reminding herself that vampires could see better than she could. Kale appeared a few seconds later, a frown on his face.

"He says that there's something at the entrance, but he wants to wait until it's dark to see what it is," he told them softly. Charlotte frowned as well.

"What do you mean there's something out there? Is it human?"

Kale shook his head.

"Whatever's out there isn't near the entrance so we can't smell it," he explained. "Constantine thinks that it could just be some locals hanging near the entrance, but he doesn't want to take the chance of being exposed. He says to wait. He'll send word when they've made it out."

"How long till it gets dark?" Ron asked.

"An hour."

"An hour?" Devonshire snapped. "We have to wait in here for an _hour_?"

"Yes, so shut up," Kale hissed. "Constantine spotted a couple of Manic up ahead and he thinks that there may be more, so be quiet."

"Great," Ron muttered. Giovanni patted Ron on the shoulder, which actually knocked the wind out of the teenager.

"Don't worry, Ronald, you shall see your lovely Hermione soon enough."

A few feet ahead of him Ron heard Hermione let out a nervous laugh before everything fell silent.

"Turn off the lights," Charlotte snapped. "I'm tired of being in the light."

"But-"

"_Now_."

Ron said something extremely rude before all the lights went out.

"Ow! Bloody hell, what was that about?"

"Call me that one more time and I'll rip your tongue out."

Ron muttered something but this time there was no reaction. Hermione leaned against the wall and sighed. She wanted desperately to be out of the Bypass so that she could see Ron again.

This was going to be the longest hour of her life.

* * *

Luna and Ginny sat on one of the rocks at the base of a steep, rocky incline leading up to the exit to the Bypass. It was a good four hundred meters away, but unlike their previous trek, there was much more space to climb up. The mouth to the tunnel could be seen from where they were, leading out into the grey sky.

Harry and Neville were sitting near by, eyeing a couple of vampires who had shown a particular interest in the two girls. Constantine and Roxanne were conversing inaudibly near the narrow passageway they had just come from. Harry and Ginny would occasionally make eye contact, giving each comforting looks before they turned their attention to other aspects of the grim area in which they were sitting.

"Where in England are we exactly?" Neville asked.

"We're not far from London, actually," Roxanne whispered.

"What'll happen when we get out of here?" Luna asked.

Roxanne pointed to Harry.

"Harry will be transported to a safe house until further notice. After that, he will be delivered to Dumbledore so that he can continue his training," she whispered. Harry snorted and stood up, moving to the other side of the rocks. Ginny bit her lip, got up and went over to where he was standing.

"Are you okay, Harry?" she asked softly. Harry glanced over to her before he went back to pacing.

"I'm fine, Ginny," he muttered. "You should go back with the others."

Ginny frowned.

This had been one of the things she had feared would happen. Harry reverting back to his whole hero self.

"Harry… everything's going to be okay," she whispered. "When we get back to London, you don't have to start training right away… you could spend some time at the Burrow first."

Harry shook his head.

"I don't think there's time for that," he said, rubbing his scar and closing his eyes. "I can feel him… he's angry… he's planning something… I don't have time to wait…"

Ginny reached out and touched his arm.

"Harry, you don't have to do this now. If you're not ready-"

He turned to face her.

"I _have_ to be ready, Ginny," he snapped. "I can't afford to wait around for Voldemort to come and find me! I'm the only one who can stop him…"

Ginny removed her hand from him and crossed her arms as if to protect herself from the elements.

"Harry… if Voldemort found out where you are, he already knows about us… pushing me away isn't going to help anything…"

Harry reached out and took her face in both his hands, pulling her close to him.

"I'm not safe to be around, Gin," he whispered.

Ginny touched his face.

"You weren't saying that for the past few months, Harry… why the sudden change?"

"I don't want to lose you," he murmured. "I… I _can't_ lose you…"

Ginny felt her eyes water and she leaned in to kiss her.

"You won't," she whispered before falling into his arms and hugging him tightly. They embraced for a moment before Harry pulled away and looked down at his boots.

"You should go back with the others…"

Ginny bit her lip but nodded quietly and went to go sit back down beside Luna. Harry took a deep breath before following after and sitting down with Neville.

"Constantine, it's almost time," an older male hissed, coming down from the mouth of the Bypass. "By the time the mortals reach the top it will be dark."

The little boy nodded and moved over to where Harry and Neville were sitting.

"You will go up first, Harry Potter," he said with a tone that did not match his innocent features. "The moment you make it up there, you will be taken to a safe house until the others have made it out."

Harry frowned.

"I'm not leaving the others-"

Constantine's black eyes blazed quickly before dying down.

"You are the reason we have come through here and I will _not_ allow you to stay down here any longer than necessary. Do as I say or I'll send Ginerva up first and see what happens then," he hissed menacingly before he turned to Roxanne. "See that he reaches the safe house."

Roxanne nodded before grabbing Harry and yanking him up to his feet.

"Do not argue, Harry. We are in a perilous situation and it would do best for all of us if you just followed orders," she whispered quickly into his ear before helping him begin his rather dangerous climb to the top of the mouth. "Up you go."

Ginny stood up, watching him with concern.

"Be careful, Harry," she whispered. He glanced down at her and nodded before he started climbing again. Luna placed a hand on Ginny's arm.

"He'll be okay," she murmured and Ginny sighed.

"Yeah…"

Constantine pointed to Neville and Ginny.

"You two next. Hurry," he hissed. Two vampires helped Neville and Ginny begin their climb, moving along with them as they stumbled along. Luna was the last to go and Constantine was the one who actually helped her go up while the others waited at certain intervals along they way, appearing and disappearing occasionally and popping up in different areas as they saw fit.

"CONSTANTINE!"

Everyone looked down to see Kale appear again.

"THE MANIC!" he roared.

A couple of the vampires screamed and for the first time Ginny saw fear in their eyes. Constantine let out a menacing his and jumped down from where Luna was, one hundred meters in the air. They could all hear commotion coming from the narrow passageway and then a sudden shriek cut through the air.

"Hermione!" Harry yelled but Roxanne grabbed him before he could start crawling back down.

"No," she hissed. "We must get you out of here."

"But-"

Roxanne grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up to the next rock with no effort.

"_Go now_," she growled.

Neville and Ginny looked down from their perch to see vampires flood out of the passageway with Hermione, Ron and Devonshire close behind. The three humans began scrambling up the rocky surface with no concern of getting hurt, which only made matters worse when they finally caught sight of the infamous Manic.

They failed to resemble humans in any way, shape or form. They were truly beasts of hell. They moved with all four limbs, fangs bared and deep crimson eyes blazing with lust. Their backbones had grown to stick out of their skin like long, white blades on their backs, aiding with their flight and adding to their nightmarish presence. Their faces were like insects, opening and closing with gnashing mandibles big enough to decapitate a man's head with just a flick of the neck. Snake like tongues flickered in and out of their mouths quickly, tasting the humid air that was filled with blood, death and fear. Their entire bodies were grotesquely pale and secreting a puss like fluid that quickly filled the entire area with a revolting stench.

"GET OUT!" they heard Viorel bellow before he was struck in the side by a large vampire, who began to hack at Viorel's flesh. Viorel reached out and broke the thing's neck but that did not stop it from tearing away the hard flesh that covered his body. His whole arm was ripped apart from the middle before Viorel got away, jumping from rock to rock to reach the top of the Bypass. The Manic gave chase like ants up the surface, wild eyes searching for food.

"Hermione! Move!" Ron yelled as they scrambled up the rock face, desperate to make it to the entrance. Hermione could hardly breathe as she pushed herself towards the mouth, trying to block out the screams and wrenching of body parts as the immortals tore themselves apart. She could hear terrified squeals coming from her backpack, but she tried to ignore them as she climbed. She was almost at the top when Devonshire reached down and helped her the rest of the way. They then reached out and dragged Ron up to the top before they ran away from the rocky cavern and onto a mountain side. Hermione was about to scream for the others when lightening flashed around them and lit up the entire mountain side.

"GET DOWN!" Devonshire shouted, yanking them behind a tree just as curses were fired at them from out of the darkness. Some even hit vampires who were emerging from the Bypass, knocking them down momentarily before they either got back up or were attacked by the Manic who were starting to crawl out of the Bypass as well, wailing horribly with a furious bloodlust.

"What's going on?!" Ron yelled.

"Death Eaters!" Devonshire said pointing to a spot just beyond the entrance to the Bypass. "They're all over!"

Hermione turned to look at Ron.

"Harry," she gasped. Before she could stop Ron, he shot off into the darkness of the storm. "RON! RON, COME BACK!"

Devonshire grabbed her and yanked her back from running after Ron, pulling her down as someone fired at them.

"Stay down," he growled. "You'll get us killed!"

"RON!" she screamed, ignoring the man that held her. Devonshire looked around and after getting his bearings, he shoved her towards a clump of trees.

"Go! Run, run, run!" he yelled, pushing her along as they scrambled down the hill. Hermione ran as fast as she could, dodging curses that were fired at her while glancing behind her to see if she could see Ron.

"ARGH!" Devonshire bellowed in pain as he was tackled to the ground by a Manic who had strayed from the rest of the immortal pack. Hermione screamed and fell out of the way as the two tumbled violently, rolling and screaming as they fought. She could hardly see what was going on except for the brief bits of light brought by the cracking lightening.

"DEVONSHIRE!" Hermione screamed. She was about to run over to him when another Manic jumped into her path, mandibles open and ready to feast. Hermione began to back up slowly, eyes wide with unbridled fear. The large vampire advanced on her quickly, stalking her on all fours as its red eyes kept her from looking away. In the background, she could still see Devonshire flailing around, struggling desperately to be released, but she knew he was not going to make it.

"Please… someone," she whispered as she continued to back away. "Someone help me…"

"_NO ONE WILL HELP YOU HERE!"_ the thing screeched in a bloodcurdling high-pitched voice before it lowered to a deep, menacing growl as it crouched down into an attack position.

"NO!" Hermione screamed as it lunged at her, razor sharp vices gnashing for her flesh. She fell back into the mud but before the thing could get to her, something huge struck the Manic from the side, rolling out of sight almost instantly into the woods. Hermione got up from the ground and looked back at the place where Devonshire had fallen, pulling out her wand and pointing it at them.

"_Expelliarmus!_"

Her wand flew out of her hand and whirled around to see a Death Eater standing there, eyes flashing from her to Devonshire and the Manic.

"Over here, bitch," he growled. "Now!"

Hermione heard Devonshire scream horrendously in excruciating pain again and she closed her eyes, hoping to block out the sounds.

"OVER HERE!" the man screamed again.

Hermione flinched at his voice and walked towards him through the mud, hands up in the air as she moved. When she reached the Death Eater he grabbed her backpack and turned her around so that he could keep an eye on her and the fight that was going on near by. Hermione knew she was crying, but it was being covered up by the driving rain that pounded against them.

"Come on, girlie and let the vampire take care of your friend," he hissed into her ear as he pulled her back uphill. Hermione heard screams coming from everywhere and after a moment she decided to make a break for it. She broke her arms away and elbowed him badly in stomach. He grunted and doubled over, giving her a chance to wriggle out of her backpack. She took off across the jagged terrain, tripping over rocks and bushes as she rushed back to where they had left Devonshire. The Death Eater dropped her backpack by Devonshire's body before he took off after her.

"AHH!" she cried when she was tackled from behind. She and her attacker went plummeting down the hillside, crashing into some thorn bushes. Hermione sobbed loudly as her skin was torn to shreds as she fought against the Death Eater. "LET GO OF ME!"

She kneed the man and tried crawl through the thorns, but the man grabbed her leg and drug her back to him. She kicked out, but he continued to hold on, yanking her back until his fist connected with her face.

"NO!" Hermione screamed. "LET GO!"

There was a flash of green light and the man slumped to the ground, lifeless and cold. Hermione let out a sob and pulled herself away from him, looking around wildly for who had fired the curse.

"HERMIONE!"

"RON!" she cried. He ran over and pulled her out of the bushes, clutching her close to him as she sobbed into his chest.

"It's okay," he whispered, pulling her away from bushes and into the cover of the trees. "I'm here… I'm here…"

"Devonshire," she whispered. "He was attacked… Ron, he was attacked!"

With a stumbling start, she took off up the hill.

"HERMIONE! HERMIONE, STOP!" Ron bellowed. Nothing good was happening up the hill and he needed to stop her before she headed back to the Bypass entrance. Things would only get worse.

"NO!"

"HERMIONE!"

He reached her to find her standing, frozen in horror as her eyes stayed fixed on the nightmarish sight of Devonshire's mangled body. Ron grabbed Hermione and turned her into his chest, clutching her there as she started screaming. Ron pulled her back into the trees just when two Death Eaters appeared. Ron watched them as they examined Devonshire's corpse through the rain before they moved on down the hill.

"Shh…" he whispered into Hermione's ear as she sobbed into his coat. "It's going to be okay."

"HEY! STOP!"

Both Hermione and Ron looked out from behind the tree to see Ginny tumble down the hill and crash into the same rocks Devonshire and the Manic had crashed into only a few minutes earlier. She let out a gasp and backed up through the mud, eyes wide with terror. Death Eaters charged out of the woods and grabbed her before Ron or Hermione could do anything.

"BASTARDS! LET GO OF ME!" she screamed, flailing about wildly. "NO!"

"GINNY!"

Hermione and Ron turned to see Harry crashing through the bushes. Unfortunately, the Death Eater who had grabbed Ginny had already disapparated with her. Harry ended up slamming into the other Death Eater.

"HARRY!" Ron shouted as he and Hermione shot out from behind the tree.

"ARGH!"

"HARRY!" Hermione shrieked. "Ron, help him!"

There was another flash of green light and they stopped moving. Hermione flinched as thunder rolled through the sky and lightening lit up the mountain. However, before Ron or Hermione could reach the place where the Death Eater and Harry had fallen, two men came running out of the woods, wands drawn and badges flashing.

"Aurors! Put your wands down and your hands up, _now_!" they both snapped quickly. "NOW!"

Hermione took hold of Ron's arm, tugging him as her eyes remained on Harry's prone body.

"Ron… Ron, he's not moving," she whispered urgently, tears running down her face. "Ron-"

"Shut up! Put down your wand!" one of the men growled, pointing his wand at Ron, who had yet to follow orders. "I'm not going to say it again! Put it down!"

Hermione shook Ron's arm.

"Ron, do as they say," she hissed, pointing the Auror badge the man was holding up. "They're from the Ministry!"

"I don't care, I'm not giving up my wand," Ron growled back, reaching back and pushing her behind him so that he could effectively protect the both of them. "Are there more of you?"

The older man nodded, looking around.

"Yes there are, now tell us where Harry Potter is!"

Hermione's eyes widened.

"What do you want with-"

"Hermione, _get down_!" Ron bellowed, grabbing her roughly by the waist and yanking her down into the mud with him as green jets of light shot out of the trees and struck the Aurors. Hermione let out a yelp, but Ron was already up before she could protest, firing back into the woods.

"RON!" Hermione cried when he was struck in the leg. He let out a cry of pain but shouted back two killing curses, striking a tree at first and then hitting the Death Eater who had attacked them. He then hobbled over to Harry. She ran over to where Ron was kneeling and helped him shove the Death Eater off of Harry.

"He's not moving," Hermione cried. Ron placed a hand to Harry's face.

"I can't tell if he's breathing," he growled. Hermione could see that he was in a lot of pain and tried to help him, but he shoved her hands away, biting his tongue to stop himself from saying something nasty to her.

"I'm fine, Hermione," he snapped through gritted teeth. "We need to get out of here!"

Hermione shook her head.

"Ron, you're in too much pain to apparate all three of us out of here! We'll all get splinched!"

"Here," Ron growled, shoving Harry's wand into her hand before gathering Harry up into his arms. "Come on. We're going to the Burrow!"

"What about the others?!" Hermione demanded, looking around.

Ron shook her head.

"We can't wait! We stay here any longer and we'll die, so come on!"

With that said, he quickly disapparated. Hermione reached out and grabbed her backpack before she disapparated as well.

* * *

Hermione let out a cry of pain when she appeared destroyed kitchen of the Burrow, a broken glass lodged in her foot.

"Hermione!" Ron yelled from upstairs. "Where are you?!"

"The kitchen! What happened?!" she cried, looking around. The entire place was demolished. There were holes in the walls where rain was falling through and wind was howling all around her, filling her with a feeling of dread. "The place is destroyed!"

"It must have been attacked! You should get up here!"

Hermione glanced down at her leg and bit her lip.

"I don't think I'll be able to!"

There was a brief silence.

"HERMIONE GET UP HERE NOW!"

"Why, what's wrong?" she managed to yell up while she tried to pull the piece of glass out of her leg.

"DEATH EATERS! GET UP HERE!"

_BOOM!_

"HERMIONE!"

She fell to the ground, crying out in more pain as the walls began to fall around her.

"HERMIONE!"

Hermione pulled Harry's wand out from under her and flicked it, disapparating before the walls could fall upon her.

* * *

The blaring of a car horn shocked Hermione as she stumbled out of the street and fell to the ground on the sidewalk. The car sped by, the occupants glaring at her before returning to the wet road ahead.

Hermione snatched the backpack from out of the road and placed it on her back before struggling painfully to her feet.

She looked around for the street sign and her eyes widened when she realized where she was.

"Oh my God…" she whispered before she stumbled off down the street. She reached the house she was looking for and hobbled to the door. "MUM! DAD! OPEN THE DOOR!"

But no one answered. Even after she continued to bang on the door and scream at the top of her lungs, no one answered. She flicked Harry's wand at the door and it clicked open. She pushed it open and staggered in, looking around wildly.

"MUM! DAD!" she screamed. "MUM!"

She managed to get to the stairs before she collapsed. The injuries from climbing up the rocky surface, being torn up by the thorn bushes and having her foot sliced open by the glass at the Burrow was too much.

"DAD!" she cried, looking around. The house was completely intact… so where were her parents…

She moved painfully into the kitchen and looked for any sign. A note… anything…

Hermione heard a window break and she whirled around to see two Death Eaters crawl through the broken back window. The first man stumbled into the kitchen and looked around. As he did this he removed his mask. The second guy did the same, allowing her to see that it was a woman. The man caught sight of Hermione and his eyes widened.

"Oy! You! You're not supposed to be here!" he growled.

They all pulled their wands out at the same time and fired. Hermione screamed when her hand was almost severed apart, Harry's wand zooming out of her hand and out the broken window into the raging storm. The man was disarmed by Hermione, his wand falling to pieces on the kitchen floor. The woman was also disarmed and attacked Hermione quickly from the side while the other guy looked for his wand.

The woman slammed Hermione into the stove, grabbing her head from behind and smashing her head into the counter, cutting the side of Hermione's head badly and causing her to see stars. As Hermione went down, she managed to snatch a pan from off the stove. Before the woman could do anything else she whirled around and slammed the pan into her head as hard as she could. The woman slumped to the side unconscious and the first man finally looked up from his futile search for a wand.

"Bitch!" he shouted, lunging at her. Hermione was knocked down to the ground and struggled with the larger man.

"NO! NO!" she screamed before he punched her in the face. She lashed out and her nails caught him in the eye. He cried out in pain and fell away from her, allowing her to reach up to counter and grab the first thing she felt.

"Come here!" the man growled, pulling her back down to the ground and raising his hand in preparation to knock her out. "I'll teach you some manners-"

"NO!" Hermione shrieked before slamming the knife down into his neck. Blood gushed on to her instantly as the man's eyes widened in shock. He made gurgling noises as he tried to speak before he began to choke up blood all over her. Hermione let out a sob and shoved him away from her, scrambling into the corner as he bled out and died on the floor near her. She closed her eyes and buried her face in her hands as she curled up into a ball, sobbing uncontrollably as the storm raged on in and outside of the house.

It was then that a dark thought crossed Hermione's mind and she scrambled out of the kitchen as quickly as possible and went back to the door. On it was a familiar skull and snake burned into the wood that she had not noticed earlier. It was small.

Hermione let out a scream and stumbled away from the door in terror.

"No… no, no, no, no," she muttered out loud before covering her mouth with her bloody hand to keep herself from crying.

Her parents could not have been attacked… they had to be alive…

Hermione did not even notice the screeching of tires and the opening of a car door until someone screamed her name and ran over to her. She looked up from her spot sitting on the sidewalk and she let out a yelp of surprise.

"Curtis!" she cried.

"Hermione, what the hell are you doing out here in the rain?" Curtis demanded, pulling her up to her feet. When she cried out in pain and collapsed against him he finally saw the many severe injuries to her. "Oh my God, Hermione… what happened to you? You're bleeding everywhere!"

Hermione pointed to her house.

"Where are my parents?" she demanded. "Where are they?!"

Curtis shook his head.

"I don't know, Hermione," he yelled over the crack of lightening. "They disappeared a couple of days ago. What happened to you?!"

"What do you mean they disappeared?" Hermione snapped. Curtis shook his head. This was ridiculous. He began to tug Hermione towards the car he'd been driving.

"Hermione, you're hurt! We need to get you to a hospital," he said, opening the passenger door, tossing her backpack into the back seat and shoving her in. He ran around to the driver's side and slid in, starting the car and tearing off down the street through the rain. He kept his eyes on the road as he reached into the back seat and pulled out a couple of jackets and handed them to Hermione.

"You must be freezing! What the hell happened to you? I thought you were at school!"

Hermione took the jackets and wrapped them around her aching body, shivering terribly in the seat as she leaned her head back.

"I don't know! Everything went wrong," she sobbed. "We were attacked."

Curtis made a sharp left turn and continued to speed down the road towards a hospital. He needed to get there as quickly as possible. She was bleeding all over the seat.

"Hermione, you're not making sense! Who would attack a school?!"

Hermione shook her head, closing her eyes as images of Devonshire's maimed body resurfaced in her mind.

"Not the school! We were in the mountains," she cried. "Nothing went right… they're all gone…"

A loud squeak sounded from the backseat and Curtis glanced back.

"What was that?" he asked. Whatever was in the backpack screamed again and he frowned. "What the hell?!"

Hermione raised her bloody hands up to her face and she let out a frustrated scream.

"Who cares what it is?! They're all gone!"

"Who's all gone?"

Hermione opened her eyes and watched as the world past by like a blur. The excruciating pain she had once felt was starting to wane as her brain began to shut her down.

"The vampires… they all left us… and the Death Eaters…"

Curtis glanced over at her.

"Hermione, what are you talking about?!"

"Ginny's gone…the Burrow was attacked… the Manic… they were everywhere… I couldn't help him… I couldn't… Devonshire…"

Curtis noticed that Hermione was starting to slump in her seat so he reached out and shook her.

"Hermione, stay with me! Hermione! COME ON!" he shouted as he swerved into the emergency room entrance. Slamming the car into a standstill, he quickly got out of the car and ran to the other side where Hermione was starting to black out. "Come on, Hermione! Stay with me!"

"They're all gone… my parents… they're all gone," she muttered, shaking her head as he grabbed her. "NO!" she suddenly screamed. "LET ME GO!"

Curtis turned around and looked about.

"SOMEONE HELP ME! SHE'S BEEN HURT BADLY!"

A couple of nurses came out of the hospital with a gurney and helped Curtis pull Hermione onto it before she began to black out again.

"Hermione, stay with me!" Curtis yelled as they pushed her into the hospital. "Come on!"

Then everything went dark…

**A/N: Ahh, yes the darkness. It has been my constant companion for many a year. (Not really, I just thought that would be cool to say) :-) Anyway, I know many of you were loving it until the whole Manic part. I had to put it in there though. I couldn't fill your heads with ideas and then just leave you at that. I had to put in an attack. So I did... however disturbing it may have been. But, as promised, I did bring Curtis back from the dead! He's back! I know many of you were afraid that chapter four or five woud be the last you'd see of him. Well, here he is again. (some of you are probably going, oh brother, another person to ruin things between her and Ron.) Well, no! I will not ruin things. Not after that lovely little scene that was actually added a week ago. I thought I'd put in a little comedic R/Hr relief before I completely destroyed everything. Hopefully you liked it. **

**Mae Silverpaws:** One sitting? Wow, you're much better than I am. I hardly _ever_ have time to read anything on Fanfiction any more!

**mgmve2008:** I thought I'd give Neville and Luna a little time to talk. I also loved the scene with Fred and George. I felt that they needed their own scene. As for Stephanie, we'll find out more about that later.

**Fyre of the Funeral Pyre:** I don't think there was as much jumping around in this one. Oh, and please don't cry! At least not yet anyway!

**ronandmion4ever:** I know. I just couldn't help it though. It was just so tempting, with the whole movie coming out and everything and to not make a reference would be a sin! I'll try to cut down on the torturing in the next couple of chapters.... Wow... that next paragraph was just as random as I am. I guess it's kind of cool that you dream about my stories and all, but that was a bit random. Funny, but random. :-) I've actually thought about doing a fic on Fred and Angelina/ George and Alicia, but I never really got around to it. Maybe I'll do a short story or something... who knows? (shrugs) Keep up the reviewing! Good to hear from you!

**Wesker888:** I think Dumbledore wants to do the honors, but is refraining from doing so right now.

**tamara72:** We'll see what happens.

**nextbestthing:** I'm glad you thought so! I'm actually liking Stephanie a lot more now than I was in the beginning of the story. She wasn't rally supposed to show up as much as she did, so I guess she's growing on me.

**jenny:** The Bypass was really fun to write about. As for R/Hr, I was saving that for this chapter where they share their feelings for each other right before they're attacked by vampires on prozac. Very appropriate time to say "I love you." :-)

**xMidnight Muse:** Don't worry! There's nothing wrong with you. Just something wrong with me. I'm the one writing these weird stories. I'm trying to balance things out as best I can. It's really hard.

**Chapter Tease: Because I'm just that good! (And full of myself)**

_"You don't think she was captured do you?" Fred asked. _

_Remus shook his head. _

_"Hermione's too smart to get caught."_

_"Then where is she?"_


	26. Step In Line

_Myths which are believed in tend to become true_. **-George Orwell**

* * *

"Albus, you know very well I can't do anything about this," Jenna Recker, a high ranking Ministry official, snapped as she sat down at her desk and looked up at the Headmaster. "Henry Dreyfus is in charge until we find a new Minister of Magic."

"You know what he's doing is wrong, Jenna," Dumbledore said calmly. "Severus needs to be allowed to see her. You know what this is doing to both of them."

Recker shook her head.

"Severus Snape is supposed to be in Azkaban, Albus. To allow him into St. Mungos while it's under threat is reckless and you know it. The Ministry is having enough problems as it is since Diagon Alley was attacked and now that the students in Hogwarts are getting home we've got more problems. I can't make any leeway for a telepathic who's supposed to be aiding in this war," she replied quickly.

Dumbledore removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"Jenna, he's going to kill her. You can't just stand by and do nothing."

"Severus Snape was a liability with her in the first place, Albus! Overseers are supposed to be relatives for a reason. They've become too close and you've indulged it," Recker snapped. "He's dangerous already! You give Snape a chance and he'll do something stupid just to get her out!"

"Severus Snape's interest in Stephanie is a completely different matter from the one at hand, Jenna, and you know it. He needs to be allowed to see her and you know it. Dreyfus will kill her otherwise," Dumbledore said carefully.

Recker shook her head and pulled out a file. She looked over it quickly before sighing.

"Albus… the only thing I can do is suggest to Henry that instead of putting Severus in Azkaban, have him help her through the procedure," she said. "But that's as much as I can offer. Stephanie Warner is obligated to aide in this war and I can't go against that even if she isn't stable."

Dumbledore nodded, replacing his glasses on his nose before he glanced down at his watch. He needed to get back to Grimmald Place.

"Thank you, Jenna," he said before standing up. "We'll be in contact."

Jenna looked up as he opened her office door.

"Oh and Albus… there's something I need to ask you before Henry catches you," she whispered.

"Yes?"

She leaned back in her chair and eyed him carefully.

"Before she went into a coma, she mentioned the Bypass, the old vampire passageway from France to here… Henry had some Aurors sent over to the entrance to the Bypass and they said that they saw Harry Potter there… and now he's disappeared again," she said. "You wouldn't know anything about that would you?"

Dumbledore's eyes darkened a little but he shook his head.

"I don't know anything about that. As far as I'm concerned, Harry Potter is still hiding somewhere in Europe," he replied.

Recker sighed and returned to the papers on her desk.

"Henry will not believe that answer," she whispered.

The conversation was over and Dumbledore left.

* * *

The beeping of the heart monitor near Hermione's bed slowly infiltrated the dark crevices of her unconscious mind and began to wake her up.

The pain was gone.

That was the first thing she realized.

And it was warm.

There was no rain. No screaming. No bloodshed. No death…

Just the rhythmic beeps of her heart expressed on the machine close by…

She opened her eyes slowly and blinked several times to become adjusted to the artificial light of the hospital room she was in. The white sheets and the ugly white walls with the small window only made matters worse as she struggled to gain her bearings of what had happened.

She thought for a moment…

What had happened?

They had been walking through the Bypass… and then?

The Manic…

She remembered… she remembered crawling up the rocky surface to the mouth of the Bypass… she remembered running down the mountainside with Devonshire…

Devonshire…

Groaning, she tried to turn onto her side, but found that difficult with the tubes that were stuck in her. She opened her eyes fully and found herself hooked up to two IV bags as well as the annoying machine near her bed.

"You're awake," someone whispered.

Hermione looked around and caught sight of a boy she remembered.

"Curtis," she rasped out through parched lips. "How…"

He pulled the chair he had been sitting in closer to her bed and rested his elbows on the bed, watching her carefully. As he did this she noticed a cup of juice and toast on a small table along with a couple of books and a cell phone. She glanced out the window and realized that it must have been early in the morning.

"You were really hurt, Hermione," he whispered. "You've been out for a couple of days, but you'll be fine…"

Hermione just stared at him, trying to figure out how she had gotten into a muggle hospital.

She tried to start back where she had left off in her list of things that had happened since they had left Transylvania.

There was Devonshire… then there was the Death Eater… the thorns… Ron… Ginny… Harry… Aurors… the Burrow… then?

"Where did you find me?" she asked softly.

"You were in front of your parents' house… you were badly hurt… you were also saying strange things…"

Her eyes widened.

"What was I saying?"

Curtis shrugged.

"Something about them all being gone… and vampires… and then there's that," he muttered pointing at something on the other side of the bed. Hermione turned her head and gasped when she caught sight of Darcy, lying in a chair, sleeping peacefully. "Hermione, what's going on? What _is_ that?"

For a moment, she was lost for words, unable to think up a plausible explanation for not only her injuries and sudden appearance two days ago, but also for the small winged ferret sleeping in the chair near by.

"How many people have seen him?" she asked, not taking her eyes off of Darcy.

Curtis shook his head.

"Just me… I hide him every time the nurse comes in… my parents also came by, but they thought he was a stuffed animal…" he murmured before reaching out and taking her hand, attracting her attention. "Hermione, what's going on?"

Hermione stared at him for a moment before looking down at their hands. There were several scars on her hands, leading up to her bare arms where bandages covered most of her skin, especially the hand the Death Eater had severed. She imagined the rest of her body did not look better.

"Hermione…" Curtis said expectantly and she turned her attention to him.

"Curtis… there's something I need to tell you…"

* * *

"What do you mean you can't find her?" Ron growled at Constantine.

It was two days since they had escaped from the Bypass. Ron had managed to make it to Grimmald Place just when Tonks and Remus were arriving so they were able to get in before any Death Eaters arrived on the street. Neville and Luna appeared the next day with the vampires… or at least most of the vampires… Viorel was among the missing, which was not going over well with Roxanne, who had been forced to stay at the house while the vampires scoured the city for Hermione and Ginny. Ginny obviously could not be found, but it came to a surprise that Hermione had been missing for such a long time.

Constantine had just arrived back with what was left of his division and had given the news to Ron, Harry, Neville, Luna, Fred, George, Roxanne, Remus and Tonks.

Ron's parents, though they were no longer staying at Harry's place but visited Hermione's parents often, had been kept out of the house for the past two days by the recent attack on Diagon Alley as well as the problems with Hogwarts and had not yet been notified about the arrival of their son. Dumbledore had been by often, having quiet conversations with Harry for a couple of hours at a time before leaving for the Ministry or Hogwarts. Ron's other brothers had no interest in explaining to their already irate mother about the son who had disappeared for months at a time. They had no interest in dying early.

"Ron, maybe you should calm down," George suggested, watching as his younger brother paced the floor angrily. Harry sat at the kitchen seat, eyes on his wand, which Constantine had returned to him after finding it in Hermione's back yard. He had not been much of a conversationalist since their arrival.

Ron glanced over at his brother.

"Don't tell me to calm down," he hissed. "Hermione's out there and she's hurt badly! How could you not find her?!"

The small boy's eyes burned.

"She's gone, Ronald," he hissed.

"What _did_ you find?" Tonks asked. Constantine glanced over at her warily.

"I had a couple of my men go over to her house and they found her blood all over the place. There was a dead Death Eater in there as well."

"What?!" Ron and Harry yelped. Constantine shrugged.

"Your little girlfriend finished the guy off with a steak knife," he said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "The man bled out quickly…"

"What about _Hermione_? You remember her? The short brunette with the pretty smile you were supposed to be looking for?" Ron snapped.

Constantine shot the redhead a nasty glare.

"Hermione left quickly after she killed the Death Eater. We tried to track her scent, but the rain hasn't helped. It's washed away anything on the outside. She either apparated or she ran off, however, seeing as we have Mr. Potter's _wand_ I'm assuming she ran, not that she'd get that far. Someone must have found her… but it doesn't matter because her scent ends at that door and I will not have my men running half assed around this city looking for a girl who could be dead!"

"Why haven't you checked the muggle hospitals? If someone found her that would be the first place they'd take her!" Ron growled furiously.

Everyone jerked when Roxanne moved. It was as if she had not been in the room for the entire conversation and her unnatural beauty only startled them. She had noticed Constantine's growing agitation with Ron so she decided to step in. Roxanne shook her head, her eyes darkening.

"Vampires avoid hospitals for a very _obvious_ reason, Ronald," she whispered. "And judging by the amount of Hermione's blood we found at her house, I doubt she's alive anyway."

"SHE'S NOT DEAD!" Ron roared.

Both Constantine and Roxanne bristled and crouched down a little, hissing at Ron and despite Roxanne's splendor and Constantine's youthful appearance, they were still extremely menacing and very dangerous. Several occupants of the kitchen actually stood up and moved away from the frightening sight, unsure of how to react to this behavior.

Remus, however, stood up and grabbed Ron roughly by the shirt and dragged him out of the kitchen. He pointed up the stairs.

"You're out of this," he growled. "Stay up there!"

Ron looked incensed.

"Hermione's out there, Remus! She could be alone!"

Remus pointed to the kitchen.

"Those vampires have already lost people and they're not too willing to do anything else for us," he hissed. "You start pissing them off and we'll never find Hermione. Now go upstairs and cool off."

Ron looked like he was about to protest, but upon seeing the seriousness in Remus's eyes, he swore and stalked off up the stairs. Remus took a deep breath before returning to the kitchen.

"You don't think she was captured do you?" Fred asked.

Remus shook his head.

"Hermione's too smart to get caught."

"Then where is she?"

Remus sighed.

"We can't worry about that now," he whispered. "Hermione will take care of herself. We need to focus on preparing for what's to come."

George looked up.

"What's coming?"

"Something bad…"

* * *

It was past noon before Hermione finished telling Curtis everything about herself, the wizarding world and what had happened over the past few months. He had been extremely silent throughout the entire thing, except for the intermittent question she had asked once upon a time as well. They had been forced to stop occasionally when Hermione's nurse or Curtis's parents stopped by to check on her.

Darcy had been good evidence, but unfortunately, without Harry's wand, she was unable to demonstrate her magical abilities. Not that she needed to…

Now Hermione sat in silence, staring at her half eaten sandwich while Curtis digested everything she had told him.

"So… so you're a witch…"

"Yes…"

Curtis leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath.

"Okay… so let me get this straight… you just came back from Transylvania… with twenty vampires… and you _walked_ under the English Channel and then you were attacked by _killer_ vampires and _Death Eaters_… then you _apparated_ to your parents house?" he asked skeptically.

Hermione nodded and he continued.

"And all of this happened because a psychopath is terrorizing London and trying to take over the world and your best friend, Harry, is the only one who can stop the guy?"

"That's pretty much it."

Curtis raised an eyebrow.

"Oh… well that explains _everything_," he muttered. Hermione bit her lip.

"Curtis… I know this is a lot to digest and I don't expect you to understand everything right now, but the one thing you should know is that we aren't safe… things are about to get really bad," she whispered.

Curtis nodded, looking down at his hands and taking a deep breath.

"Okay…" he murmured before looking up at her, a determined look on his face. "So what do we do?"

Hermione's eyes widened. She shook her head, taking his hand.

"Curtis, no, I can't let you-"

Curtis placed a finger to her lips and shook his head at her.

"Hermione," he said quickly. "You're hurt… I'm not going to let you do this by yourself."

She shook her head.

"Curtis, you don't understand. You could get killed!"

"So could you," he snapped. "I can still help. Besides, since you don't have one of those wand things, you're in the same boat as I am."

Hermione was too weak to argue and she knew that any argument she could possibly think up would be pointless. She could see the determination in his eyes and knew he would not yield. Sighing, she looked around and caught sight of Darcy eating by the window, chewing on a piece of chicken.

"Fine…" she whispered before giving him a funny look. "You're taking this much better than I thought you would…"

Curtis glanced over at the window.

"It's been getting weird around London lately, ever since the Prime Minister was assassinated and that blackout… I've been seeing some weird things lately… especially with your parents. There was always someone out side their house, appearing and disappearing… people have been disappearing with no trace and I knew it had nothing to do with the assassination," he said. "I mean, I'll admit, my first choice wasn't magic, but… I guess it makes sense… in a cheesy American movie sort of way…"

Hermione smiled.

"You always were open to new things…"

Curtis grinned as well.

"I guess that movie we saw this summer was a bit too real for you," he muttered. Hermione blushed.

"Yeah… let's not do that again…" she whispered before looking back out the window, biting her lip. Curtis watched her carefully.

"You miss them…"

Hermione glanced over at him and sighed.

"I told you the watered down version of what's happened, Curtis… I've seen people…" she choked at this point and tears came to her eyes. She took a deep breath. "People are dying, Curtis… the Death Eaters… they kill without thinking… I just hope they're alright…"

"I'm sure they're thinking the same thing, Hermione…"

Hermione tried to smile and she leaned forward to kiss his cheek.

"Thank you, Curtis… you saved my life," she whispered.

Curtis was about to say something when someone knocked on the door. Curtis reached out and snatched Darcy off of the windowsill, stuffing him under Hermione's sheets. The little skyfox squealed before Hermione grabbed his head, blushing violently as Curtis's parents stepped into the room. They were followed by a nurse.

"Hey Hermione! How are you?" his mother asked.

Hermione smiled while trying to cover up the slight wriggling under her sheets.

"Um… I'm fine Mrs. Jackson, thank you for asking," she said politely as the nurse checked Hermione's stats. The nurse took Hermione's hand and examined the scars.

"You're getting better, Hermione," she said. "I'm sure your parents are worried about you. Were they in Chelsea as well?"

Hermione frowned.

"Chelsea?"

Curtis jumped in quickly.

"No!" Everyone looked at him and he grew red. "Um… Hermione's parents are out of town… she was staying with a friend… in Chelsea…"

The nurse nodded, redressing the bandage on Hermione's wrist.

"A lot of weird things have been going on around here," she said. "A couple of men have been stalking the hospital for the past few days, looking for some lost girl. They gave us a picture and she looked a little like you… except her hair was a lot longer… and lighter… and her face was rounder. I wanted to check to see if your parents knew where were before I said something to them."

Hermione's eyes widened and she bit her lip. A shiver of fear ran down her spine and raised the hairs on her back as images of the Death Eater in the kitchen came back to her.

"No… my parents know where I am…" she muttered, glancing over at Curtis, who was watching her carefully. "Um… I'm feeling a little tired," she added.

Curtis's parents smiled and his mother gave Hermione a kiss on the brow.

"We'll see you tomorrow. Curtis, are you going to stay here all night?" she asked. Curtis glanced over at Hermione again before looking at his parents.

"I think I'll stay here and keep an eye on Hermione," he said. "We're still catching up anyway."

The nurse gave the two teenagers a knowing look.

"This girl should not be up all night," she snapped. "I don't need you keeping her up with snogging-"

"We're not together," Curtis and Hermione said at the same time before glancing at each other.

"Um…" Hermione mused. "I promise not to let him keep me up… I just need to talk to someone… four months is a long time…"

"Try seven years," Curtis muttered with a smirk. Hermione shot him a look before smiling at his parents.

"We'll be fine…"

The Jacksons nodded and after saying goodbye they left. Hermione stopped the nurse before she left.

"Um… could you not mention to those men that I'm here?" she asked quietly. The nurse raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you said your parents knew where you were," she said.

Curtis stood up.

"They do… the men who are looking for her aren't good… Hermione's parents owe some blokes some money and I think those men are after her…" he lied. The nurse's eyes widened and she nodded.

"Of course… I'll see what I can do," she said before leaving. Hermione glanced over at Curtis, amazed.

"Thanks, Curtis…"

"They're Death Eaters aren't they? The men who are here," he said. Hermione bit her lip and nodded as she pulled Darcy out from under the sheets.

"Yes… they are…"

"And they're looking for you…"

"Yes…"

Curtis looked down at her. It was easy to see that his mind was made up.

"Well then… when you're well enough to get out of here… I'm going to help you get to somewhere safe," he said.

Hermione reached out and took hold of his hand, bringing it up to his lips and kissing it.

"Thank you, Curtis… thank you…"

* * *

"_If anyone touches her, I will have them killed_," Voldemort hissed before moving away. It was like watching death pass through the trees and the feeling that accompanied it was one of fear.

Ginny bit her lip and tried not to say anything as two Death Eaters grabbed her and dragged her back to the Hogwarts Express, which rested on its tracks just beyond the forest where one of Voldemort's camps was based. They pushed her into a small compartment near the back of the train and locked the door before they moved on either side to stand watch.

"Shit," Ginny muttered, looking around. The windows were magically sealed and any attempt to get past the door would only end painfully. More for the guards than her, but still… pain was pain…

Not that she was being naïve.

She was well aware of the pain she would go through if she did something completely stupid… or worse… Harry came…

Sitting down, she looked out the window again and let out a growl of frustration.

She was not expecting anyone to come and save her.

She wasn't stupid.

She knew that Dumbledore would try to deter Harry from finding her as long as possible in an attempt to prepare him. She knew no one was coming.

That wasn't the problem.

The problem was that she had expected more from Voldemort than he had let on. It was obvious that he was saving her for later use, there was no doubt about that, but the fact that he refused to talk to her about Harry unnerved her.

She would have thought he would have wanted to know as much as possible about Harry's intimate life as possible, but instead the… man… just looked her over and gave a bunch of orders to keep her safe and to not let Bellatrix Lestrange know that she was here. That was probably the one moment Ginny had in which she actually had a decent, if not nice thought about Voldemort.

But that moment had ended quickly when Ginny had said something rude about the fiery vixen who had not only killed Harry's godfather, but a couple of other Order members that Harry had come to grow fond of.

Voldemort cursed her several time with the Cruciatus curse before giving out more orders and leaving. His little snake, Nagini, had shown an interest in Ginny as well, but Voldemort had told the snake to back off. She would have her chance later.

"Argh!" Ginny screamed, kicking her foot against the opposite seat. One of the Death Eaters slammed his hand against the door.

"Oy! Shut the hell up!"

"Piss off!" Ginny hissed.

"Girlie, I'll kick your arse if you talk to me like that," the man snarled.

"Try it," she shouted. "We'll see who's kicking your arse afterwards!"

The man let out a slew of hateful profanities but did not come in. Ginny let out a frustrated sigh and looked around again.

"So this is what happens when you fall in love with Harry Potter," she whispered before biting her lip.

_Poor Harry… _

She had seen him running down the hill before the Death Eater had disapparated and she had seen the fear in his eyes. She knew he must have been a total wreck about this.

Hopefully he knew that Voldemort would not harm her…

_Yes, Ginny, he won't harm you know, but what happens when Harry loses his mind and comes looking for you by himself and actually finds you. What then? Voldemort will do everything _but_ kill you just to hurt Harry… you know that…_

Ginny leaned against the cool panels of the compartment wall and took calming breaths.

"Then maybe he shouldn't come look for me…"

_Don't say that, Ginny! You start saying that then Voldemort will start getting upset and do things to provoke Harry. He'll hurt you then!_

Ginny bit her lip and ran her hand through her hair.

"Oh shit," she muttered to herself. "I'm so sorry, Harry… I should have listened to you…"

* * *

"RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY, YOU GET YOUR SORRY ARSE DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT OR SO HELP ME GOD I WILL BREAK YOU APART!"

Ron and Neville traded glances before Ron got up slowly and left the room, Neville and Luna following closely behind. Harry was no where to be found, but Ron had a very good feeling he was out on some training thing with Dumbledore or Remus, who had also disappeared.

Somehow Ron had managed to avoid this fatal encounter with his parents for the past week due to some complications going on at the Ministry. Dumbledore had avoided the subject as much as possible, knowing that bringing it up would also bring up the fact that Ginny was also missing… again…

That would not go well for Ron.

However, after a week of being away from Sirius's old home, Molly wanted to check up on the Grangers and Dumbledore had no choice but to forewarn the parents about the arrival of their son and the dire situation of their daughter. Harry was kept out of the equation as much as possible.

The moment Ron reached the kitchen he was attacked by his seething mother. She smacked him with a book, hitting him repeatedly.

"You… stupid… inconsiderate… boy!" she snapped, accenting each word with a blow to his head. "How could you be so _stupid_?! How could you just _leave_ like that?! YOU MADE ME BELIEVE GINNY WAS DEAD!"

Ron ducked behind the cover of his five older brothers, eyes wide.

"I'm so sorry, mum!" he apologized. "I didn't mean for you to think-"

"DIDN'T MEAN FOR ME TO THINK WHAT?! THAT YOUR LITTLE SISTER HAD BEEN KILLED?! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME! YOUR OWN MOTHER!" Molly Weasley shrieked, lobbing a plate at him. All of the boys dove out of the way and the plate shattered against the wall. Tonks held up a hand, not wanting anyone to get hurt.

"Molly, maybe you should calm down a bit before you talk to Ron," she suggested. Molly's look was murderous and Tonks backed down instantly, giving Ron an apologetic look. Molly advanced on her son and grabbed him by the ear, yanking him down to a chair and glaring down at him. The other brothers winced at the action and moved as far as they could away from their mother as possible. Arthur just watched, unable to say anything after seeing his son after so many months.

"How could you do that to me, Ronald?! How could you just leave?!"

"Because I knew you wouldn't let me go otherwise," Ron replied heatedly, rubbing his ear ruefully. "Harry needed us-"

"YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME!"

"Molly," Arthur interrupted, surprising them all. "He's safe. That's all that matters right now. He's done well…"

Molly rounded on her husband, eyes blazing.

"I don't care what he's done, Arthur," she hissed. "He made us believe that Ginny was dead and now because of his recklessness, she might as well _be_ dead! Hermione, as well!"

Ron skipped turning pale and went right on to looking a very sickly puke color at the mention of his little sister and pending girlfriend. His brothers noticed this and came to his aid instantly. Bill and Charlie snatched Ron out of the chair and led him out of the room while Percy, George and Fred shot looks at their mother.

"What happened to Ginny and Hermione wasn't Ron's fault, mum and you bloody well know it," Percy snapped before following the twins up to the room where Bill and Charlie had dumped a very troubled Ron Weasley.

"She didn't mean it, Ron," Charlie was saying as the others entered. "You know that right?"

Ron closed his eyes.

"It _is_ my fault. If I had done something sooner… I could have saved Ginny… _and_ Hermione…"

Bill shook his head.

"Don't worry about what happened, Ron," he snapped. "Let's focus and getting Hermione back first… Ginny…" They all looked at him as he grew pale. "We know that Voldemort won't touch Ginny… if he wants Harry, he can't touch her… she'll be safe for now…"

Fred and George sat on either side of Ron to make sure he did not topple off of the bed while the rest of the brothers sat down in various spots in the room.

"Where could Hermione be though?" Ron muttered. "Constantine said that her trail ends at her house… And it's been a week…"

"Hospitals? We could check hospitals," Percy suggested. Charlie shook his head.

"Not after what happened in Chelsea," he said. "The hospitals all over the place are madhouses and it'll be impossible to find anyone. Whoever found her would put her under a Jane Doe name and after that explosion there must be _hundreds_ of Jane Does… We'll never find her."

Ron buried his face in his hands and groaned.

"She has to be out there… she can't be…"

He could not say the word. If he did he was afraid it would become a reality and something inside of him told him that it wasn't. Something told him that she was still out there…

"Where else could she be, Ron?" Bill asked. "The vampires searched everywhere for her…"

Fred and George glanced over at each other before speaking.

"What if-" George started.

"They didn't check everywhere?" Fred finished.

Percy frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

Fred and George glanced down at Ron.

"Well, over the summer we're sure ickle Ronniekens here had Hermione _watched_," Fred said.

"We're also positive that Hermione is fortunate to have more friends than just Ron and Harry, so perhaps she's with one of them," George added with a grin. Ron's head suddenly shot up.

"Oh my God… I know who she's with…"

**A/N: We can all guess who Ron's thinking about. It's not that hard. I hope you enjoyed this. I'm having a bout of writers block. I've finished chapter 28 and am now rethinking this whole story. Don't worry, I'll try to finish it. I might just take a while in updating between chapters just to make sure that they flow nicely and are consistent. The next two chapters may take a while to update, though they're already done. Be patient. Thanks!**

**Fyre of the Funeral Pyre:** I actually don't know where I come up with this stuff, but I'm glad you like it!

**nextbestthing:** _No... _I think you got it all down. Pretty nice recap actually. Well, except for the whole Curtis being brainwashed part. I don't think I could have done that to him. He's too sweet and helpful.

**Mae Silverpaws:** Well, you must wonder some more until the next chapter.

**Blue Leah:** That wasn't actually supposed to be in there, but when people started saying that they wanted to see a little more R/Hr, I decided to add it. I had so much fun with it because of Giovanni. I loved him!

**jenny:** Thanks! I hope you like this chapter!

**x-x-xCAROLANNEx-x-x:** The next chapter's going to be a bit more intense than this one.

**xMidnight Muse:** Well, knowing me, something bad will happen to all of them, but I'm not saying anything. :-)

**mgmve2008:** My favorite part also!

**bga1974:** Hope you liked this one.

**ObsessedRHShipper:** I suppose it's hard to be consistently clever when you're being chased by vampires on prozac, but I see what you mean. I don't think any of them were thinking clearly at that point in time.

**marvelous-fanwriter:** Panic set in when the walls started collapsing on her. I don't think she was thinking about where she was going. Glad you liked the ending.

**Chapter Tease: Because you guys never get over any of those. **

_"I gave him a choice."_

_Realization set in and she smacked a hand to her mouth to keep herself from crying. _

_"No," she mumbled repeatedly into her hand. "No, no no…"_

_"You'll do as I say."_

_"You son of a bitch," she murmured, trying to ignore the pain that was now in her chest. "I won't give you what you want…"_


	27. Will We Ever Get Out

_Faith is a passionate intuition._ **-William Wordsworth**

* * *

It had been a week since she'd been separated from the others and Hermione was starting to get a bit antsy.

Did they think she was dead?

She had left a horrific trail back at her house and she knew they had checked it before she could get back.

Biting her lip, she looked into the mirror and winced at what she saw. She wasn't wearing a shirt, so her stomach and arms were completely bare. There were deep fresh scars running up and down her stomach and sides where the thorns had cut her and there were still a couple of bandages on her arms. The hand that had been severely cut was still bandaged and hurt every so often so she was forced to take pain pills for it. The swelling on her face where she had been punched had gone down significantly and there weren't many scars on her face. Her wounded leg was almost healed so she limped a little from the pain, but other than that she had been returned to normal.

Well, physically anyway…

Her mental state was still being questioned.

She screamed in her sleep from nightmares of the Manic and the Death Eater she had killed. She could feel the blood all over her and even after numerous showers, she still felt horrible. Curtis had stayed up with her on several occasions, either talking or just sitting with her as she cried.

Sighing, Hermione picked up a shirt and began to button it up. As she did this, she thought of her parents.

They had to be alive…

Those Death Eaters… they would not have come back to the house if her parents were dead… would they?

A squeak behind her brought her out of her dark thoughts and she turned a little to see Darcy flying from the closet to the bed, chewing on a bone. He looked at her and almost seemed to smile as he flicked his tail happily and flapped his wings, nestling down on the sheets.

"You're impossible," she said to him.

The skyfox barked a laughing cry, its eyes turning bright blue as it dug into the bone. Hermione was painfully reminded of Ron in that moment and had to shake her head to get her mind off of the redheaded young man.

"I'll see him later," she muttered to herself.

Someone knocked on the door.

"Can I come in?"

Hermione turned to her shirt and started buttoning it again.

"Yes."

Hermione looked up from fixing her shirt to see Curtis come in. She smiled and returned to fixing her shirt.

"Hey, Curtis," she whispered.

"Hey… are you okay?" he asked.

Hermione sighed and glanced back up at him.

"Yeah… I'm just thinking about my parents… I'm worried about them. There was a Dark Mark on the door and there were a couple of Death Eaters at our house the night you found me," she told him, following him out of the bedroom and down into the kitchen, where the television was playing.

His parents, thankfully, were out at work that day and Curtis had just gotten back from the store. The entire morning had been spent alone in their house, giving her time to think over everything that had happened and how she was going to get back to the wizarding world… back to her parents…

She sighed.

Back to Ron…

"I just hope they're okay," she muttered. "I hope Ron and Harry are okay as well…"

"Well, I guess they think you're still hurt," Curtis replied. Hermione nodded, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"They probably do…" she whispered before laughing bitterly. "Ron must be throwing a fit by now…"

Curtis watched her carefully before speaking.

"You two are dating, aren't you?"

Hermione looked up, surprise in her eyes before she sighed and shrugged.

"I don't know… I mean… I think it's more of understanding right now… it's so complicated with this war," she muttered.

Curtis chuckled.

"I guess I can't really say I understand what you're going through," he said. Hermione smiled.

"Yeah… but it's nice to know that you care," she replied.

She meant what she said.

She knew that Curtis still held some feelings for her, but the fact that he was willing to put all of that aside for her well being and was able to accept Ron as the one person she loved really meant a lot to her.

She already knew how Ron would react if he found out that Hermione was seeing someone else. He'd get all moody and overprotective, they'd get into this huge fight and then they wouldn't speak to each other for a long time.

_Thank God_ Ron was not here right now.

This would have been awkward.

Curtis nodded before glancing out the window.

"How are you planning on getting home? I mean, since you don't have a wand or anything," he said.

Hermione's smile disappeared and she sighed in frustration.

"I don't know. I could go to the Ministry, but I'm sure that it's being watched by Death Eaters and we could get caught before we got in," she whispered. "St. Mungos is out of the question…"

Curtis frowned.

"What about that place… Harry's place… Gramult, was it?"

"Grimmald Place?"

Curtis nodded.

"Yeah, what about that place? If it's a safe house wouldn't they be there?"

Hermione nodded.

"Yeah, but I can't get into the house and even though Voldemort can't get in, I'm sure he knows where it is," she muttered. "He'll have the placed watched in case I go there…"

"But wouldn't someone see you? I mean, if a lot of people are living there, there must be some one going in and out all the time. _Someone_ would notice you, right?" he asked.

Hermione shook her head.

"No one goes outside. It would draw too much attention, seeing as Muggles can't see the house anyway. If they _did_ see me, the Death Eaters would too and by then…"

She left the rest up to his already overloaded brain. She could see the idea hit him instantly and he paled a little, causing her to frown. She reached over and took his hand in hers.

"Look, Curtis… I don't want to beat around the bush with you," she whispered. "If we try anything, the likelihood of us getting back to the wizarding world is very low. If we get caught…" She took a deep breath, trying to control her fraying emotions. Curtis gave her hand a quick squeeze and she instantly felt better. Not that much better, but still… it was enough to continue. "If we get caught… they'll kill you just for being a Muggle… I'd rather you not come with me, _but_-" she stressed, cutting him off before he could interject. "I know you've got the mind of Ronald Weasley and are too stubborn for your own damn good so I'm not even going to try to dissuade you… I just… I want you to know how difficult this is going to be… We have to plan this or else everything could go wrong."

Curtis withdrew his hand from hers, an intense determination in his chocolate eyes. He was mulling things over, she could tell. She knew he did not want her to go. She could see it in the way he had been watching her for the past week. But she also knew that he would do everything in his power to get her back home…

"Then what?" he asked quietly after a while.

Hermione ran her hands through her hair and rested her head on the cool table, letting out another frustrated sigh.

"I don't know… I hate not having a wand," she grumbled bitterly. "I feel so _helpless_."

Curtis shrugged.

"I get along just fine."

He heard her let out a weak laugh before she raised her head and smiled at him.

"Thank you, Curtis," she whispered. "I'm really glad I'm here."

Curtis smiled as well.

"Well, I'm glad you're here also… well, I'm not happy for the reasons _why_ you're here, but I'm just glad that… well…"

Hermione grinned, leaned over the table and kissed his cheek.

"I know what you're trying to say," she whispered before leaning back in her chair. "What time is it?"

Curtis looked down at his watch.

"It's almost noon," he said, getting up and moving to the television. He grabbed the remote and sat back down. "Maybe there's something in the news about the Chelsea attacks or maybe the thing that happened in the mountains."

Hermione shook her head.

"Probably on Chelsea, but not the mountains. The vampires would have cleaned it up before any muggle noticed what had happened," she said. Curtis raised an eyebrow.

"Right… the _vampires_… I forgot about them," he muttered.

Hermione winced at the darkness in his voice.

She knew Curtis was having a hard time getting used to Hermione's alternate world. She heard it in the tone of his voice and the way he looked at her and she knew it was still bothering him a little, but she tried as much as she could to make it easy for him. She offered him a wane smile.

"Well, they're okay… in a creepy, undead sort of way," she muttered. "They make the oddest jokes."

Curtis let out a laugh.

"You've fought all sorts of creepy and unusual things and all you can talk about is odd jokes made by vampires?" he asked incredulously.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him before leaning forward in her seat to hear the news.

The screen flashed with the opening sequence before it faded into the newsroom where two people, an older man and much younger woman were sitting. The man introduced the both of them before he started into his segment about the bombings in Chelsea.

"They have yet to catch the terrorist, but we will get you more coverage when we have more information," he finished before glancing over at his co-anchor. "Lisa?"

Lisa smiled into the camera and a picture of a gavel came up.

"Well, David, England is actually starting to host campaigns for the new Prime Minister. As all of you know by now, the assassination of our last Prime Minister has left England in a state of uncertainty for the past few weeks, but Parliament is trying to move past that and put in place a new Minister. Canidates include Ronald Taylor, Bernard Callaway and Edmund Popper as well as newcomers, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Peter Griffith. The interesting twist in this-"

"What?!" Hermione exclaimed, staring with shock as the pictures of Kingsley Shacklebolt and Peter Griffith continued to show on the screen. "Shacklebolt and Griffith?"

Curtis frowned.

"Are they bad?"

Hermione bit her lip.

"Kingsley Shacklebolt works for the Order," she told him. "Peter Griffith works for the Ministry, though last year Dumbledore said that he might be joining Voldemort… they're both running for Prime Minister…"

"How bad is that?"

Hermione shook her head.

"I don't know… they're both wizards and they both work at the Ministry… either the Ministry is in charge of this or Voldemort and Dumbledore both have something up their sleeves…"

Curtis stood up and grabbed his jacket and keys.

"Well, there's only one way to find out," he said. "There's a rally near London Bridge for Shacklebolt today. Maybe this could be your ticket back to your world."

Hermione was positively glowing.

"Seriously, Curtis? You'd take me?"

Curtis smiled and nodded.

"Come on and let's go see what all the fuss is really about," he said. Hermione kissed him quickly on the lips before rushed upstairs. She was gone for a couple of minutes before she came back down with a thrashing Darcy in her hand and a small backpack. They had thrown away the one covered in her blood.

"Shh! Calm down," she snapped at Darcy, who was struggling to get free from her grip. "We're going for a ride. I know that last time we did that it wasn't fun, but this one won't be the same."

This seemed to calm the creature down a little.

Hermione grabbed her coat and headed for the door.

"Thank you so much, Curtis!"

Curtis rolled his eyes and followed her out the door, locking it before they went to the car.

"Don't mention it. Just promise not to leave me behind and we'll call it even," he said as they got into his car.

Hermione nodded quickly.

"Sure. I'll talk to Kingsley about getting you and your family in with Ron's parents…"

Curtis watched as she placed Darcy into her backpack. The little creature stuck its head out of the bag, making little noises to get Hermione's attention.

"You're taking him with you?"

Hermione nodded, scratching Darcy behind the ears before pushing his head into the backpack.

"If things go well and we are able to talk to Shacklebolt, then we'll just go with him. I don't want to run the risk of bringing unwanted company back to your house if something happens," she said.

"Oh."

Just as he was about to pull off, his parents pulled into the space in front of them. His parents got out and walked over to his window. Hermione quickly placed the backpack into the backseat and out of his parents' view.

"You two going out?" Mrs. Jackson asked.

Curtis nodded.

"Yeah, mum," he replied. "Hermione's been cooped up in the house or the hospital all week so I thought I'd take her downtown and let her run wild."

Hermione hit him in the arm and smiled at his parents.

"Actually, he's taking me to see the Shacklebolt rally," she said. "I haven't seen one in such a long time."

The Jacksons smiled and nodded.

"Well have fun," Mr. Jackson said. "But if things get a bit wild, please come back. I'd hate to see you get hurt again, Hermione."

Hermione grinned and elbowed Curtis playfully.

"I'll make sure he's on his best behavior," she said. Curtis rolled his eyes.

"Likewise."

Mr. Jackson smiled.

"What time will you be home?"

Curtis waved at his parents.

"We'll be back before dinner, Dad," he said before pulling off. He then turned to Hermione. "Why'd you tell them where we were going?"

Hermione glanced over at him before reaching back and getting her backpack.

"If Voldemort has someone out looking for me then so does Dumbledore," she whispered, pulling Darcy out and scratching him behind the ears. "If they haven't stopped by your house, they will eventually and I don't want to give your parents false information in case Ron or Harry come looking for me."

"But what if a Death Eater comes looking for you?"

Hermione glanced up at him.

"Then we'll just have to be on the look out and hope that we can get to Kingsley as quickly as possible," she muttered. "It's not the best idea, but without a wand, our only chance of getting out is hope… and I'm hoping Ron or Harry get to your parents' house before the Death Eaters do…"

This was not like her. She would not have put herself and Curtis in so much danger, but she had thought it through and this was the only possible way to get back. A desperate shot in the dark. Completely Ron or Harry, but not something Hermione would do…

She groaned inwardly.

Was that how desperate she was to get back home?

"It'll work," she muttered, mostly to convince herself rather than to convince Curtis.

Darcy squeaked in agreement, pawing at the window as the world passed him by. He let out another squeak before looking up at Hermione through questioning pale eyes as he flapped his small wings and flicked his long tail.

She shook her head.

"No you can't go out there," she said. "They don't know what you are."

Curtis snorted.

"Yeah… us common folk don't really accept flying ferrets as an everyday norm," he added.

Hermione started laughing at the comment and he shot her a strange look.

"What? What'd I say?"

Hermione shook her head, grinning.

"Nothing… just… an old professor of mine turned a student into a ferret…"

Curtis frowned.

"Can you do that?"

Hermione glanced over at him but did not answer. She just continued to smile.

Curtis made a note not to piss her off.

* * *

"Stephanie, wake up…"

_What?_

"Wake up… Stephanie, wake up…"

She shook her head and groaned.

Something was wrong…

Something was very wrong…

"Open your eyes, Stephanie… you need to open your eyes…"

She recognized the voice… she knew who it was…

But she did not want to open her eyes… if she did, she would have to go back… she didn't want to go back…

"Stephanie, open your eyes."

She shook her head, trying to block out the voice.

If she continued to hear it she would follow its orders…

"Open your eyes…"

She moved her parched lips around, trying to form words but no sound came forth. This only scared her and her breathing began to grow more labored as she tried to speak. Whimpers escaped her lips before they were cut off by another set of lips that pressed against hers.

Instantly she reacted to them, moving her lips against them as she reached out to touch the face of a man she had so desperately needed to see for the longest time. He leaned into her, kissing her heatedly as his hands moved to her sides, steadying himself against her.

"Severus," she whispered into his mouth, tears falling from her eyes. "I'm so scared."

"You need to wake up," he murmured back, pulling her closer and deepening the kiss. "You need to open your eyes."

Stephanie shook her head as he moved away from her lips and kissed her up her jaw to her ear.

"I don't want to," she cried. "I don't want the pain again… I can't handle the pain…"

"I'll help you through it but you need to wake up," he whispered, kissing her face.

Stephanie grabbed his face and pulled his lips to hers, moving her lips against his forcefully in an attempt to erase the fear. He pulled away from her and leaned into her ear.

"Stephanie, you need to wake up," he growled furiously, causing her to cry harder. "I can't help if you don't wake up."

"Please… Severus please," she cried. "I can't… I can't, I can't, I can't…"

"Stephanie Warner, if you don't wake up right now I'm leaving," he hissed into her ear.

She let out a choking sob before she slowly opened her eyes, blinking rapidly as the light began to filter in. His face began to come into focus and she let out another sob before he leaned in and captured her lips in a searing kiss.

"Don't get comfortable, Snape."

They both looked over to the door to see Henry Dreyfus standing there. Severus moved to the other side of Stephanie's bed, holding her hand as her eyes widened with fear. She shifted towards him on the bed, squeezing his hand tightly.

"Severus, don't let him take me," she whispered. Already she could feel the pain starting to infiltrate her body, slowly creeping through her toes and up her feet through her veins like acid.

Dreyfus sneered.

"Snape can't protect you," he snapped. "You're going straight back to the Department of Ministries."

She looked up at Severus, whose jaw was set tightly. She could see the truth in Dreyfus's words in his emotionless black eyes, but she still had to know.

"Severus… what's going on?"

Before he could respond, Dreyfus pointed to the door.

"The Aurors are waiting outside to transport you to the Ministry, Snape. We'll catch up," he snapped quickly, giving Severus a nasty look. Stephanie shook her head.

"No… please… Severus…" she whispered. "Don't let him take me… please-"

"_Now Severus_," Dreyfus growled. "Remember, you have no wand and no amount of Dark Arts is going to save either of you if you decide to attack me and take her away because I will lock your sorry arse up and perhaps let the Dementors take a crack at her if she doesn't cooperate. Now get out now!"

"NO!" Stephanie sobbed, pulling her hand away from Severus and covering her face with her hands. The pain was starting to get worse. It had already reached the top of her legs and was now moving like sludge through her hips, agonizing every bone and muscle in her body. "No, no, no, no!" she screamed.

"NOW!" Dreyfus shouted angrily. Two Aurors came in and Dreyfus pointed to Severus. "Take him out of here now."

To Stephanie's dismay, Severus left quietly, not looking at her. Dreyfus closed the door behind the three before turning to look at Stephanie. She glared at him.

"What did you do to him?"

Dreyfus smirked.

"I gave him a choice."

Realization set in and she smacked a hand to her mouth to keep herself from crying.

"No," she mumbled repeatedly into her hand. "No, no no…"

"You'll do as I say."

"You son of a bitch," she murmured, trying to ignore the pain that was now in her chest. "I won't give you what you want…"

Dreyfus shook his head.

"No you won't… but you'll give _him_ what he wants… and what he wants is you," he said. "You can't help but give him what he wants…"

Stephanie shook her head.

"NO!" she screamed before catching her breath. Her breathing was becoming more labored and everything was getting significantly colder. "I won't go back there!"

"Yes you will-"

_BOOM!_

_BOOM!_

_BOOM!_

Screams erupted from outside and Stephanie could hear people running around. Her eyes widened when the door opened and Severus shot in. Dreyfus pulled out his wand to fire at Severus, but the man had already reached Stephanie and grabbed her from around the waist.

"Hold on," he hissed before disapparating. Dreyfus was outraged.

"NO! NO! NO!" he roared, running out of the hospital room and looking around. "WHAT THE _HELL_ IS GOING ON?!"

A Healer ran up to him.

"Death Eaters! They've gotten inside the hospital!"

* * *

The doorbell rang and Mr. Jackson got up from watching television to answer it. When he opened it he was surprised to see two young men and a young woman standing at the door. One was a very tall redhead, slightly taller than his son. The other boy was a little shorter with black hair, except he had brown eyes. The girl had short blonde hair and a look on her face that made you think she'd just escaped from the bin.

"Can I help you?" Mr. Jackson asked warily, eyeing the redhead especially. He looked a bit too determined about something.

The redhead glanced over at his friends before pointing down the street.

"Um… I'm… Ronald Weasley… and this is Neville Longbottom," he said, pointing to the black haired boy. "That's Luna Lovegood. Our friend, Hermione Granger, lives a couple of blocks down the street and we haven't seen her anywhere. She left school a few days ago to visit a friend in Chelsea… we think she might have been hurt in the explosion."

Mr. Jackson frowned. Though he was happy that Hermione had people that were looking for her, he was not exactly comfortable with the thought that it was three boys that had an interest in her. Granted the girl was there, but he did not think that she had it all together anyway.

"What makes you think I know anything about that girl?" he asked carefully.

The Ronald fellow stepped forward.

"She talked about your son, Curtis, all the time, sir," he explained. "We just want to make sure that she's okay."

Mr. Jackson raised an eyebrow before shaking his head.

"I'm sorry, Hermione's not here," he said.

"Where is she?" asked the Neville boy.

Mr. Jackson pointed in the direction of the city.

"She went down to a rally with my son," he told them. "They won't be back for a few hours."

"What rally?" Ron asked quickly and forcefully, surprising the man. There was something in the young man's eyes that told Mr. Jackson that Hermione meant a lot more to all of them, especially Ron, than they were letting on. Taking a deep breath, he shrugged.

"The one for one of the Prime Minister candidates," he said. "Shacklebolt, I think."

Ron and Neville exchanged wide-eyed glances.

"She's trying to get back," Ron said before turning to Mr. Jackson. "Thank you so much!"

The three young people turned and left, running down the street and out of sight. Mr. Jackson frowned and turned to go inside.

"Um, excuse me."

Mr. Jackson turned around to see a woman standing there, a frown on her face.

"Yes?" he asked.

She pointed down the street.

"I just came from my sister's house, Karen Granger," she said. "I'm Lisa. I was supposed to pick up my niece from her friend's house a couple of days ago, but after what happened in Chelsea I've been having trouble finding her. I returned to the house and found your name listed on a piece of paper and thought I'd give it a shot. Do have any idea where my niece is? I'm terribly worried about her."

Mr. Jackson smiled.

"Well, Hermione's not here right now. She went down to some Shacklebolt rally with my son. I could give you his number if you'd like."

The woman smiled.

"That would be lovely."

* * *

Hermione got out of the car and grabbed the backpack with Darcy, putting it on one shoulder before she followed Curtis to the large crowd of people gathered outside of some historical building. There was a huge platform on it and at the moment, some official was speaking to the excited crowd. Hermione moved close to Curtis as they entered the crowd, looking around frequently for any sign of trouble.

At the moment, she saw no sign of any magical presence, though she had no doubt that if Shacklebolt did show up, there would be quite a few Aurors running about. She was sure the crowd was littered with wizards and witches, but since most of them were Muggles, she was not about to around asking.

"See anything?" Curtis asked quietly. Hermione shook her head.

"Not yet," she whispered. "I'll tell you when I do."

Curtis nodded and the continued to move around the crowd. The place was full and that did not help Hermione's problem. If Death Eaters did show up, their only exit would be through the building and out the back or through the car.

She would prefer to use the car.

"KINGSLEY SHACKLEBOLT!"

The crowd cheered and Hermione and Curtis cheered right along with them as the tall black man stepped out onto the stage and waved at them all. Hermione watched carefully as he began to speak to the crowd, smiling at the appropriate places and saying all the right things. Hermione glanced around and then took Curtis by the hand, leading him to the side of the building where they could be hidden by a row of pillars.

"Towards the end we'll move close to the stage," she whispered, glancing continuously out to the crowd of people.

"Are you just going to yell at him and attract attention to us?" Curtis asked skeptically.

Hermione shrugged.

"There's no other way. We won't be able to get close enough to him to talk to him privately, so the only way _is_ to scream and get his attention. Once he sees me, he'll take me with him," she told him quickly, moving out of the way as a young couple came stumbling by, still cheering.

Curtis looked apprehensive and Hermione could not blame him. Her descriptions of the Death Eaters and what they did had not been in any way watered down. She knew his fear for both of their safeties was starting to show through. She leaned in and kissed his cheek, giving his hand a squeeze.

"It's going to be okay, Curtis," she whispered, hoping to convince herself as well. "We'll be fine. We just need to get his attention and we'll be safe. We'll go to Harry's place, get some more people and come back to get your parents… you have to trust me…"

Curtis was about to say something when his cell phone rang. He answered it.

"Hello Dad… yeah… really?" he asked looking at Hermione with a strange look. "Are you sure? What did they look like? Oh… well then… wait, her _aunt_? Dad, you're sure? Look, Dad, I'll talk to you later. I have to talk to Hermione. Bye."

He shut the phone quickly and turned to face Hermione completely.

"My dad said two boys and a girl stopped by your house earlier looking for you. He told them where we are," he said.

Hermione's eyes widened.

"Two boys and a girl… Harry, Ron and Luna," she whispered. "They've found me…" She suddenly frowned. "What about Neville?" she asked herself.

Curtis, not having heard the last part, nodded.

"He also said that your aunt came around looking for you."

Hermione looked alarmed at this information.

"My aunt? I don't _have_ an aunt," she said.

"You're sure?"

Hermione gave him a look and he frowned.

"Death Eater?" he asked.

Hermione nodded, glancing around quickly.

"Okay, so they know where we are. We need to get to Shacklebolt," she said.

"What about your friends?"

Hermione shook her head.

"I can't wait around for them," she whispered. "I need to get out before the Death Eaters really show up."

Curtis glanced over at the platform and took her hand.

"Come on then," he whispered. They were about to go when Hermione stopped him and pulled him back behind the pillar. "What?"

Hermione looked up at him.

"It's her," she hissed. "It's the woman I knocked out at my house. She's here!"

Curtis glanced out from behind the pillar and looked around.

"Which one?" he asked.

Hermione glanced out with him and pointed to a woman standing near the right side of the stage.

"Her," she whispered. "With the black coat and hat."

"Oh… I see her… are you sure? It was pretty dark and you weren't in the best of conditions, Hermione," he murmured.

Hermione shook her head.

"I'm sure that's her," she said. "She slammed my head into the counter."

She felt Curtis tense at the comment but he said nothing as he continued to watch while she waited from behind the pillar. He frowned.

"Um… Hermione… please tell me that one of your friends is six foot seven, has long black hair and creepy black eyes," he muttered.

Hermione looked at him.

"What? No," she snapped. "Why?"

"We've got to go."

Curtis grabbed her and began leading her back into the crowd, pulling her between people as he walked quickly towards the car.

"Curtis, we're going the wrong way," she hissed, trying to pull out of his grip. "Curtis what's wrong?"

Curtis glanced over his shoulder before he began to pick up his speed, almost running through the crowd.

"That woman caught sight of me and sent some guy over to check it out. He's right behind us," he said. Hermione glanced behind her and nearly died.

Greyback.

And he looked just as menacing as he ever was as he shoved his way through the crowd towards them. It was like watching a shark slice through the sea. He was gaining with unbelievable speed.

"Oh," she muttered before she started to run as well. "Go!"

"Hey, watch it!" a man yelped when Hermione accidentally knocked his sign out of his hand. "Hey!"

"Sorry!" Hermione said over her shoulder as they made it to the edge of the crowd. Curtis made a break for the car and got in. Hermione got to the passenger side when something stopped her.

"Hermione! Hermione!"

Hermione stopped upon hearing her name and turned to see Charlie, Fred and George running towards them. She was about to run towards them when Greyback launched himself out of the crowd and slammed into her, knocking her down into the street. People screamed and pointed as she rolled around with him, desperately trying to get out of the vice like grip he had on her. They struggled in the street as cars passed by, honking aggressively as Hermione began to scream.

Ron, Neville and Luna ran up to the street after hearing the commotion and caught up with Ron's brothers, who were watching in horror.

"What's wrong?" Neville asked quickly.

George pointed to the street.

"Greyback has Hermione!" he shouted.

"WHAT?!" Ron roared before he started to run towards the street. Charlie grabbed him and yanked him back.

"Are you crazy?!" he yelled. "You go out there and he'll kill her!"

"HERMIONE!"

Greyback stood up and grabbed Hermione, pulling her to his chest and holding his large hands to her throat, a nasty smile on his ugly face.

"Oh, little Hermione isn't going to be coming home today, Ronald," he growled. Hermione let out a cry of pain as he squeezed her neck. "And don't try to attack. Her neck will be broken before the curse leaves your wand."

"Let her go!" Ron growled. Greyback howled with laughter and pulled out a wand, pointing at Ron.

"_Avada Kerdava!_" he screamed.

"RON!" Hermione screamed.

No one had realized what had happened until the curse struck a passing car instead of Ron. The car practically exploded, causing pandemonium in the crowds near by. Immediately people started screaming and running around, trying to get away from the group with the wands. A car that had been behind the destroyed one screeched to a halt and slammed into the burning one, flipping over and landing on its side. Police sirens could be heard in the distance and they all knew that they had to act fast before Hermione or any one else was hurt.

_SREEEE!_

A car came out of no where and fishtailed and struck Greyback before he could react.

"HERMIONE!!" those on the sidewalk screamed upon seeing Hermione slammed cruelly into the ground. She let out a chilling scream of pain, her entire right side smashed unbearably by the out of control car. Another car peeled out of a parking space and drove up to where the two had fallen. The passenger door opened and Curtis leaned out.

"GET IN!" he screamed.

Hermione somehow managed to drag her agonizing body into the car just as three other cars peeled out of a side alley. Hermione shut the door and the car took off down the street, the Death Eaters giving chase.

Curtis glanced over at Hermione as he sped down the street.

"Are you okay? Oh God, are you okay?! You're bleeding everywhere-"

Hermione shook her head as she clutched her bleeding leg in pain.

"I'll be fine, Curtis," she cut in.

Curtis looked her over and knew instantly that she was lying. The right side of her face was bleeding badly and her right arm was hanging limply at her side. In fact, her whole right side was bloody and mangled.

"How bad is it, Hermione?" he demanded urgently. "Hermione, please! You need to get help! I'm taking you to a hospital!"

Hermione closed her eyes and leaned her head back as an excruciating wave of pain surged up her leg and through her stomach. She let out an agonized gasp before shaking her head slowly and with great difficulty.

"There's no time for that! We need to get out of here as fast as-"

_SCREECH! BOOM!_

The back bumper flew off and the car fishtailed all over the road, causing several crashes before Curtis managed to get it back under control. They continued to speed down the roads, swerving in and out of traffic to avoid being hit. Hermione continued to cry excruciatingly beside him as the pain got worse with every passing moment.

"Why is it that _you_ always get hurt?" Curtis muttered, more to himself than to her.

Hermione snorted at the comment and immediately regretted it. She felt like a screwdriver was being driven into her temple while her body was being lit on fire.

Everything hurt.

_It had to be a car_, she thought bitterly to herself. Another wave of pain flooded her body and her head was screaming in agonizing and unbearable pain. She let out a choked sob, her back arching as blistering pain shot down her spine. Her eyes bulged and she actually screamed when another wave surged through her.

Curtis shook his head; angry hot tears coming to his eyes as he witnessed his friend suffer beside him.

"We're going to the hospital now," he hissed. "You're not going to make it!"

Hermione closed her eyes, trying to think through the mucky fog that was her throbbing, swelling brain.

"No! They'll be waiting for us there!"

But it was too late.

He swerved and made a sharp right through an intersection and onto the London Bridge. Hermione cried out in pain when her foot was jarred, but she ignored it as much as possible as she looked behind them. The Death Eaters were firing continuous rounds of curses at them.

"Speed it up, Curtis!" she screamed.

"I can't go faster! I'll hit someone!"

Hermione thought for a moment before her eyes widened and she looked around. Biting her lip, she turned to Curtis.

"Stop the car!"

"What?"

"Stop the car!"

Curtis shook his head.

"Are you crazy?! Do you _want_ them to catch us?!" he hissed as he swerved around a small compact. "They'll catch us!"

Hermione slammed her left hand down on the dashboard.

"_STOP THE DAMN CAR_!" she shrieked. He slammed on the brakes and the car skidded into a painful stop behind a large truck. "Get out of the car," she ordered, opening her door and practically falling out of the car and crashing onto the bridge.

"Hermione, what the hell is wrong with you?!" he demanded, ducking behind the front of the car as the Death Eater cars screeched to a halt a few meters away. "WE'RE GOING TO DIE!"

Hermione ignored him and raised her hand, flicking it down quickly before she crawled behind the car with Curtis. It did not take long until a large triple-decker bus pulled up. The driver's eyes widened when he saw the fight but before he could pull off Hermione shoved Curtis on board and launched herself on as well, landing on him just as the Knight Bus pulled off.

"Hermione, what the hell?! What is this?!" Curtis demanded as he pulled Hermione away from the doors and onto one of the beds. Hermione pulled her broken arm to her chest, clutching it carefully as to not harm it as the bus sped away from the London Bridge and off to only God knows where. She clutched her head in pain and tried not to cry out loud as her whole right side felt like it was on fire.

"Tell them to take us to Grimauld Place," she whispered as her eyes closed. Curtis nodded and turned to Stan Shunpike, who was watching the whole thing near by.

"You heard her!" Curtis growled.

Stan nodded and turned to the driver.

"Grimauld Place and step on it!"

However, the Bus had already been called to another location and in a matter of seconds it screeched to a halt. Stan was about to tell the people to wait but there was a flash of green light and the man fell to the ground. Hermione stood up painfully and grabbed Curtis, yanking him to the back of the bus as quickly as possible as more pain flooded her body.

"I don't think so, Mudblood."

Hermione and Curtis whirled around to see the woman from Hermione's house standing at the back of the bus, wand raised.

"You killed my husband," she growled.

Hermione could feel Curtis pull her closer to him and she knew she wouldn't be able to keep standing for very long, let alone stay conscious. The pain was getting worse.

"Please-"

"GET DOWN!" one of the Death Eaters yelled before the Knight Bus was hit with a barrage of curses.

Curtis pulled Hermione down to the floor and under a bed as windows shattered and the metal was ripped apart. Hermione buried her face in his chest and clung to him desperately as people screamed orders to fire back while running to the other levels of the bus.

After ten minutes, however, it stopped all together.

Nothing moved.

Hermione was about to say something when Curtis shook his head at her frantically, eyes on something at the back of the bus. Hermione could feel herself fading away as the pain in her side increased. She wanted to cry, but she refrained from doing so as Curtis held her close, ignoring the fact that she was bleeding all over him yet again and watching as three sets of boots came onto the bus. Two sets went up to the other two floors while one began to move around on their level.

"Curtis," she whispered weakly.

"Shh," he hissed.

Hermione's eyes closed and she let out a ragged breath.

"It hurts," she whispered before passing out completely.

Curtis continued to hold her close while watching as the feet moved closer to them. He looked around and grabbed a piece of broken metal. If the guy had a wand, it would not do much damage, but he was not about to hand Hermione over without a fight.

There was a brief moment of silence in which Curtis was sure the person would leave but instead the person kneeled down and looked under the bed. For a split second Curtis contemplated jabbing the guy, but after seeing the surprised look on the young man's face, Curtis pulled himself out from under the bed, clutching Hermione's limp body to his chest.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded quickly.

Bill's eyes remained on Hermione.

"PERCY! REMUS! SHE'S DOWN HERE!" he screamed before moving around the bed to check on her. "Is she alive?"

Curtis looked down at Hermione and it was then he realized how bad he must have looked as well. There were cuts all over his arms and he was shaking like a leaf in a thunderstorm.

"I don't know… She's hurt badly, you need to help her," he choked out as he continued to hold on to her. Judging by the way the boy was clutching Hermione and the piece of sharp metal, Bill could see that the boy was not going to let go of her as his brother and Remus came down. Remus grabbed both Hermione and Curtis and after taking a deep breath, disapparated with both of them.

**A/N: Okay, so this chapter was very interesting in many different ways. I hope you guys are enjoying this more than I am writing it, because at the moment I am not having such a good time with this. I think I'm having an off season. (Is that possible?)**

**Blue Leah:** I know Hermione's done some things that aren't so Hermioneish, but can you blame her? Writer's block _is_ a pain! I'm so _pissed_. I can't think about anything _good_! Humph! I feel so blah! Thanks for reviewing!

**Fyre of the Funeral Pyre:** I'm sorry that was confusing, but no, Ron did not have Curtis watching Hermione over the summer. Curtis is just an unsuspecting Muggle friend who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

**nextbestthing:** Close, but no cookie. :-) I knew most of you would think it was Ginny.

**jenny:** I'll take your idea into consideration. I love Curtis also. I love how he fills the hole when Ron's not there. It's cute.

**mgmve2008:** I hope it does wear off soon. I'm getting so _sick_ of it! Anyway, enough about me. I'm glad you liked the chapter.

**Mae Silverpaws:** Ah, but you see that's my problem. I _have_ no direction to force anything to. None of my stories are planned. There's usuallly just a beginning and then blah... It just comes out and that's the problem. Nothing's coming out! I loved the part with Mrs. Weasley as well.

**Wesker888:** Things have been a bit hectic around here, which is why I think I'm having a mental block.

**Chapter Tease: **

_Stephanie screamed, clutching her head in pain as her vision continued. Severus grabbed her wrists. _

_"Stephanie, what do you see? Tell me!"_

_She looked up at him through terrified pain filled eyes. _

_"Us… they're coming to get us!"_


	28. Restless

_Pain is no evil unless it conquers us._ **-George Eliot**

* * *

Moody moved through the halls of the Ministry of Magic and barged in to Dreyfus's office.

Dreyfus and two other officials looked up.

"Alastor, what the hell?!" Dreyfus growled, standing up at his desk. "Get out!"

"You lost Stephanie Warner," Moody snapped. Dreyfus pointed to the two officials.

"Get out, now," he hissed. They left and Dreyfus glared at Moody. "You want to tell me what the hell this is about?"

"You lost the telepathic," Moody growled. "_And_ you lost Severus Snape… _again_."

Dreyfus shoved a finger in Moody's face.

"I don't account to you, Alastor," he growled. "So piss off and get out!"

"You may not have to account to me, but there's a whole room full of high-ranking officials who are pissed off because you got a telepathic hospitalized, then lost her _and_ Severus Snape. Now we've got two hundred muggles who swear they saw a group of people fighting with wands near the London Bridge where Shacklebolt was giving a speech! What the _hell_ is wrong with you?!"

"Don't give me that shit!" Dreyfus snarled. "Severus Snape is in league with Voldemort and he's brought Warner down with him! I will _not_ let you stand there and tell me what I've done wrong!"

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR DAMN MIND?!"

"What's going on in here?!"

Moody and Dreyfus looked over to the door to see Tonks standing there with Remus right behind her.

"We heard yelling," Tonks said, glancing from Moody to Dreyfus hesitantly. Dreyfus moved to the door and opened it wide.

"Get out. Now," he growled.

"You've grown power hungry, Dreyfus," Moody snarled. "You're going to kill half of this country before you get what you want."

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY OFFICE!" Dreyfus roared.

Moody snorted and left, motioning for Remus and Tonks to follow. Dreyfus slammed the door behind them, furious profanities escaping his office.

"What's going on?" Tonks asked, glancing behind her as they walked towards the elevator. "What was that all about?"

Moody glanced around.

"St. Mungos was attacked a few hours ago," he told them.

Remus hesitated.

"What?!"

Moody shook his head.

"It's fine now, but we have a bigger problem," he hissed.

"What's that?" Tonks asked.

"When Mungos was attacked, Severus escaped with Stephanie," he told them quietly as they got into the elevator. Moody focused a menacing magic eye on anyone else who tried to get in so that they could be alone. When the elevator doors closed, he continued. "Dumbledore's been unable to get into contact with either of them, not that he's had time. With Harry back, things are getting difficult and after that little stunt with Granger in London, everything's going to hell faster than we anticipated. With Ginny Weasley in Voldemort's control, he's gotten bolder in hopes that Harry will do something stupid and judging by the way he went out against orders yesterday, Voldemort's not far off."

Remus shook his head.

"Dreyfus is just trying to cover his arse up," he snapped as they got off of the elevator. "How does he expect to keep all of this under wraps? Everyone knows that Harry's here and the moment they find out about Stephanie-"

"MOODY!"

They looked around and caught sight of an Order member moving towards them quickly.

"Moody, we have a problem!"

"What is it?"

The man pointed behind him.

"Severus just popped up on the grid in Hogsmeade and it is _not_ looking good!"

Moody glanced over at Remus and nodded at him.

"We'll go and check it out. I need you to go to Grimmald and warn Arthur Weasley-"

The man interrupted them.

"Sir, there's another problem that you need to tell the Weasleys about," he said quickly. "There was an attack at their sons' flat. The twins. We don't know everything, but we do know that someone was killed… You need to tell them to head to Mungos."

Remus paled.

The twins…

_Oh Molly…_

* * *

Severus placed Stephanie gingerly down on the ground, taking great care not to hurt her in any way. She trembled terribly in the freezing night air so he flicked his wand at her and she instantly started to warm up. Closing her eyes, she leaned against the tree, shivering still and trying to think clearly. The acid pain that had been flowing through her body since she'd woken up was still there, but she had been able to ignore it for the most part by focusing her attention on Severus. But now it was starting to become more prevalent and she knew she could not take much more of it.

"Severus," she whispered through chattering teeth. "We can't keep doing this…"

He looked through the trees into the town ahead, ignoring her. She watched him carefully, knowing that he was trying his best to avoid the fact that she was slowly beginning to understand her power. If she became stable, then there would be no need for him…

"Severus," she tried again. "I can't keep moving…"

Again he did not answer her, focusing his attention on what was ahead of him, instead of what was right behind him.

He waited for the light in the closest house to turn off before he reached down, picked Stephanie up carefully and ran as best he could to the house. Knocking on the back door, he waited until it was open and an extremely tall man stood. He was bald and pale with emasculated skin and dark blue eyes that seemed to know and see everything.

"Severus… I was wondering when you'd show up," he said in a deep monotonous baritone that made Stephanie shiver even more in Severus's arms. "Come in, you're letting in the cold."

Severus stepped in and quickly set Stephanie down on the small couch in the corner of the house near a coffee table that seemed to have seen better days. The older man set a tray of tea and cookies on the table, sitting down gracefully in an antique armchair, watching Severus as he dealt with Stephanie. The former Potions professor wrapped blankets around Stephanie, waving his wand over her body as he did. Her eyes drooped and the pain finally went away as her mind slipped away to a dreamland. Severus stood up and sat down across from the man, eyes remaining fixed on Stephanie.

"She's weak, Severus… extremely vulnerable," the man whispered.

"He pushed her too hard," Severus told him. "Her first death vision was of the Chelsea attack… she was never given enough time to get over it."

"Most would have died. She knows how to shut herself down. I'm assuming she learned from you."

Severus glanced over at the man.

"She needed to know."

The man did not respond. Instead he leaned forward in his chair and poured himself a cup of tea and took a couple of cookies. He sipped his tea pensively for a few minutes before speaking again.

"How much pain is she in?"

"She can't tell me."

"Can't or won't, Severus?"

There was a brief pause before Severus answered him.

"Won't."

"Hmmm…. Very unusual… a telepathic who won't talk to her Overseer," he mused. "How very strange…"

"You do not have to over analyze everything, Finneas. Some things should be left a mystery."

Finneas smiled.

"That rule applies to telepathics, Severus, yet you seek to explore her more than is necessary…" Finneas observed, watching Stephanie sleep quietly on the couch. "She's dreaming…"

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"You can see her dreams?"

Finneas smiled.

"Yes I can," he said. "I can see many things that are happening in the present…"

"I thought you weren't stable."

"And I thought you didn't fall in love," Finneas replied with a ghost of a smile on his face. "But I suppose even the best of us get things wrong."

Severus sighed and stood up.

"Now I remember why I don't visit," he whispered, moving out of the room and into the kitchen. Finneas smiled, eyes remaining on Stephanie's prone form.

He had spent years honing his telepathic abilities and he had always worked in helping other telepathics like himself better their abilities. And over those years, he had always seen one of his kind that had managed, either through outside stresses or by sheer will, to cross the bridge from instability to stable. He himself had been stable from birth, but had always had a fascination with the unstable telepathics that roamed the earth.

Most of them never lived long because they could not stand the death visions that bombarded them during times of war. He had seen many suicides in his lifetime and had always pitied them. His visions were always what he wanted them to be and if he did not like where things were going he was able to pull out at any time. But the unstable ones were forced to see everything through to the end. Though they had choices in some ways, in the end, it was all left to chance. On the other hand, stable telepathics were able to become stronger and in special cases, even enter into the dreams of anyone sleeping near by.

The girl sleeping before him intrigued Finneas. She was strong, that was obvious. But the fact that they were forcing her to become stable was destroying her from the inside. He could sense that one of the reasons for that was Severus.

Stable telepathics did not need Overseers since they were able to control what they saw. If Stephanie became stable, her connection with Severus would not only be cut but he would be completely erased from her memory. An unfortunate consequence for the unstable ones who were forced into stability by their governments.

He was one of the lucky ones. His parents had not registered him as a telepathic when they found out his abilities. They had sent him away with his sister to America. He had left the States when he turned seventeen and had then traveled the world after that.

"Severus, how long do you think you can keep this up?" Finneas asked suddenly.

"As long as it takes," Severus answered from the kitchen.

"If you continue to apparate around England with her without giving her time to reopen her mind, she runs the chance of becoming stable and you know that. She'll try to protect herself from the pain," Finneas whispered.

"If I stay in one place, the Ministry will detect her and I'm not about to let that happen," came the heated retort.

"She'll forget who you are."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take… Can you check the perimeter?" Severus asked, coming back into the living room. "I don't want to hurt her again by waking her up to quickly to apparate."

Finneas closed his eyes and thought quickly about the surrounding areas. He saw the Three Broomsticks, Hogs Head, the Weasley's shop and other shops that littered the small town of Hogsmeade. Nothing stirred. But he could sense something wrong. He went through the town again and then opened his eyes.

"Someone is in the town that does not belong," he whispered, standing up and moving to the door.

"You don't know who it is?" Severus asked. Finneas shook his head.

"I cannot sense people I do not know, Severus, you know that," he said slowly. "I see happenings and on the off occasion feelings, but I cannot sense people. I cannot tell you who it is."

Severus moved over to Stephanie and waved his wand over her body.

"Then we should go."

Finneas rested a hand on Severus.

"The girl should stay with me. She is not strong enough to survive anymore of this. Apparating will only hurt her more. She needs to continue sleeping so that her mind can reopen itself again."

Severus shook his head.

"I do not need anyone to find out that she is here," he hissed, watching as Stephanie began to stir restlessly on the couch, her eyes squeezing shut as the pain began to return to her toes and fingers. "She's strong enough."

Finneas watched in slight amazement as Stephanie finally opened her eyes, tears filling them almost instantly. Severus whispered something to her and she nodded slowly, blinking back the pain as he picked her up, blankets and all, and moved to the back door of the house. Finneas did a quick scan of the back of the house and instantly moved.

"Don't open the door, they're outside," he hissed, pulling them away from the door.

Stephanie let out a muffled gasp of pain before burying her face in Snape's shoulder, tears flowing freely as the pain suddenly got worse. Finneas frowned and grabbed her face, prying open her eyes.

"What the hell are you doing?" Severus growled.

Finneas pointed to her eyes, which seemed to be fogging over.

"She's having a vision, Severus," he said slowly. "They know you're here… it's too late."

Severus frowned.

"Too late for what?"

Finneas looked over to the back door, his eyes also fogging over.

"Get her to the basement immediately… they're planning on burning the place down," he said before turning to Severus. "I hope you plan on paying me back after this is over. This place was _very_ expensive."

Stephanie let out a loud sob and Severus quickly placed her in the hands of Finneas. He pulled out his wand and pointed it to the window.

"_Expecto Patronum_!" he screamed. A bright doe appeared and sped out of the house quickly.

_BOOM!_

Stephanie screamed, clutching her head in pain as her vision continued. Severus grabbed her wrists.

"Stephanie, what do you see? Tell me!"

She looked up at him through terrified pain filled eyes.

"Us… they're coming to get us!"

* * *

When Hermione woke up, the first thing she noticed besides the fact that the pain had gone down significantly was the fact that she was not alone in the bed she was supposed to be sleeping in. The warm body and protective arm draped over her side only heightened her awareness of the person's presence.

She tried to think of the chain of events that could have possible landed her in bed with someone else and after going over the car crash and Knight Bus ride, she could not remember anything.

Biting her lip, she turned stiffly in the person's arms so that she faced them and gasped.

Ron was sleeping quietly beside her in a bloodstained shirt and pants that were also caked with dried blood. Even in his sleep he looked completely exhausted. There were dark circles under his eyes, his hair was wild, his lips were chapped from dehydration and his stomach growled every thirty seconds. His face was covered in sweat and dirt, accented by the tearstains that fell down his cheeks to his chin and neck. She could tell that he was not sleeping well.

Something had happened…

Hermione sighed and watched him as he slept restlessly next to her, murmuring her name occasionally before he'd unconsciously pull her closer to him. She wanted desperately to wake him up and ask him what had happened, but at the same time she could tell that he had not had a lot of sleep, if any, in the past few days that she had been gone and since she had gotten back.

"Hermione…"

She jerked and looked up at him to see him watching her through tired, pain-filled eyes. He bit his lip, uncertain of how to proceed. Hermione decided for him.

She leaned in and kissed him slowly. When she tried to move closer, he pulled away frowning. Hermione bit her lip, sensing his uneasiness.

"What is it, Ron?" she asked quietly.

He shifted uncomfortably before sitting up, forcing her to move away and sit up as well. The action, in and of itself, caused her to gasp as a quick jolt of pain shot from her ribs and up her spine. Ron stiffened at the noise and he watched her carefully. The way he was looking at her made her look down at herself and see why he was so upset.

Her entire right side was bandaged and she could feel bandages tightening around her chest. She had a feeling that her face did not look any better.

She ran her hand over her right arm before looking up at Ron, who had followed the action with a frown.

"Ron, what's going on?"

He was quiet for a moment before he responded.

"Harry's missing," he whispered.

She gasped.

"What?!" she shrieked. "When? How?"

Ron shook his head slowly, rubbing his tearstained face in exhaustion.

"I don't know. When we came back from London he was gone…" he said, glancing down at his shirt as if he had just realized that his clothes were covered with what she suspected to be her blood.

"What's going to happen?" she asked quickly. "Are they looking for him? Why the _hell_ would he leave?!"

Ron grabbed her shoulders, trying to calm her down before she started hyperventilating.

"Hermione, you need to calm down," whispered.

Hermione bit her lip and took a shaky breath.

"Ron, tell me what's going on," she begged, taking a tight hold of his arms as she tried to get information.

Ron shrugged, his face growing paler by the second.

"I don't know," he muttered. "They're not telling me anything. Dumbledore doesn't want to report it to the Ministry, that's all I know…"

Hermione reached out and touched his face.

"Is everyone else okay?" she asked carefully.

He looked up at her and shrugged again, but his eyes said something else.

"For the most part yeah… your parents are freaking out downstairs," he added as if it was relevant. Hermione paled.

Her parents.

Had they seen her come in?

As if he had heard her thoughts, Ron shook his head.

"They didn't see you… they just know that you're here… They saw Curtis though, that's why they're freaking out."

If it was possible, Hermione went even paler and this bothered Ron a little… just a little.

"Curtis," she muttered. "Is he okay?"

Ron nodded slowly.

"His parents are with him downstairs… my mum and dad are trying to explain things to them," he answered, watching her carefully.

She placed her face in her hands, taking deep, calming breaths as she tried to digest everything that had been told to her.

Harry was missing.

Curtis was fine and so were his parents…

And judging by the increasingly unpleasant look on Ron's face, Ginny had yet to be found and nothing good had come from her little trip to Shacklebolt's rally.

"How long have I been unconscious?" she asked quietly through her hands, still trying to gain control of her emotions.

She felt Ron shift on the bed before he answered.

"Four days," he mumbled darkly. "We had to call a Healer in to look at you-" Here his voice seemed to crack a little, causing her to remove her hands from her face and look up at him. His head was down, but she could tell with a sense of dread that he was crying silently across from her.

For a moment she hesitated.

She had never seen him cry before. Not like this anyway…

Biting her lip, she reached out to touch his arm.

"Ron-"

Before she could say anything else he grabbed her and crushed her aching body to his, hugging her tightly as he buried his face in her neck, his shoulders shaking as he held her close. Hermione closed her eyes to stop her own tears, but that did not stop the sob that escaped her lips caused by not only the obvious pain his hug brought, but the pain of knowing she had hurt him with her absence.

"I thought you were dead," he whispered into her skin. "When they brought you in, I thought you were dead. You weren't moving and there was blood everywhere and…"

His words were covered up by his hard breathing and her skin as he continued to hold her. She pulled away a little so that she could look into his watery blue eyes.

"I'm here now," she whispered. "I'm here and I'm safe… please stop crying…"

At that, something flashed in her mind and she could not stop the giggle that escaped her lips. Ron looked at her and saw a small smile on her lips and that only seemed to annoy him.

"What the bloody hell are you _smiling_ about?" he asked heatedly as he let her go.

She gave him an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry," she told him. "It's just… it's usually you who makes me cry… now you're crying because of me… it's just… funny…"

When Ron gave her an indignant look she broke out into more laughter, ignoring the pain in her ribs as she did. He let out a huff and got out of the bed, moving over to the door.

"If you're just going to insult me-"

Hermione clambered out of bed and moved as quickly over to him as she could, ignoring the pain that shot through her right leg and up her spine, causing her to wince and gasp. Ron turned around and frowned.

"Hermione, you need to get back into bed. You're still recovering and too much movement could make it worse," he hissed, grabbing her left arm and tugging her back to the bed. As he tucked her back in, she watched him carefully. She could tell that he was carrying a lot on his shoulders, with her, Harry, Ginny and just the fact that England was falling apart was slowly breaking him down and it broke her heart to see it.

"Ron, you need to take a break," she whispered, pulling at his shirt. "And a shower."

Ron shook his head, fixing her sheets and her pillow.

"I'm fine, Hermione. _You_ need to get some rest," he muttered back.

He muttered some other things that sounded strangely like threats and she frowned.

Something else was bothering him. She could see it in his eyes.

Harry's disappearance was not the only thing that had happened during her absence. Something else had happened… or was happening…

"Ron, what's going on?" she demanded. "Tell me what's wrong!"

"Nothing's wrong," he muttered. "Just get some rest."

_Why was he lying to her? What had happened?_

She reached out and grabbed his arm with her good hand, tugging weakly on his bloodstained sleeve.

"Ron, what happened?"

She could see the tears in his eyes suddenly she wish she had not asked.

Something had gone terribly wrong…

Ron seemed to be barely clinging to strength as he stood by her bed, staring down at a spot on the sheets as he struggled to get the words out.

"The twins' place was attacked," he muttered.

Hermione gasped and grabbed Ron's hand.

"What happened? Did they make it out okay?" she demanded.

Ron seemed to be in another world as her questions slowly filtered through to his conscience.

"The twins are okay…but…" he whispered before looking up at Hermione. "Angelina… she…"

That was as far as he got before his voice cracked under the agonizing emotion that flooded through his body.

Hermione suddenly felt very cold and very sick. She let go of Ron's hand, her eyes roving his face for any sign that it was not true.

But the tears that came down his face only made the reality of the situation more painful… more unbearable…

"Oh my God… Fred," she gasped. "Oh my God…"

* * *

Finneas and Severus were arguing.

In the back of her mind, Stephanie could hear the words, muffled by the pain that still coursed through her body. The room around her was constantly shifting and swirling as the rooms above them shook from the impact of the curses the Death Eaters were throwing at them.

The arguing continued but Stephanie tried to block it out as best she could. She wanted so badly to go back to sleep. She wanted to get out, but all she could see were the Death Eaters moving outside and the dark basement where they hid.

"Severus," she cried. "Make it stop."

Severus stopped talking to look over at her. She looked so small and weak huddled in the corner of the basement, wrapped in sheets yet still shaking like crazy as tears ran down her face and whimpers escaped her parched lips. He walked over to her and ran a hand down her face. It was cold.

"We need to get out of here, Finneas. She won't last much longer."

"And how do you expect to get out. There is no way out of this place and the Death Eaters are upstairs," Finneas said slowly, eyes on the ceiling.

"Why the hell can't we disapparate?"

"You can't pull a telepathic from her vision. As long as she continues having visions we have to stay here. You'll kill her if you move her," Finneas growled.

"Severus," Stephanie whimpered again. He kissed her sweaty, cold brow, smoothing back her tangled hair.

"There's nothing we can do?" he asked quickly as she groaned.

"Not unless you want to kill her."

Severus stood up and moved over to Finneas.

"Then we're going to die here?"

Finneas frowned, eyes still on the ceiling.

"Perhaps not… there are people apparating on the outskirts of the town… they must be from the Order."

"The Order?"

Finneas turned his head to look at Severus.

"I alerted your little friends on your whereabouts. I wanted to be prepared."

"Couldn't you have just seen the meeting where the Death Eaters said, 'oh look, Snape's in Hogsmeade'?" Severus asked furiously.

Finneas smiled.

"Always the sarcastic one, Severus. No I could not have. No matter how talented I may be, I cannot have two visions at once. If I am to check the perimeter then I will check the perimeter. I will not check the perimeter _and_ check up on various Death Eater meetings at the same time," he said calmly. "Besides, your friends are taking care of our problem. They've already killed most of them. The others are being arrested."

A bloodcurdling scream rent through the dank basement air like a knife.

They both looked over at Stephanie, who was clutching her head again and moaning something terrible. Severus moved to her side instantly and grabbed her face.

"What is it? Tell me what it is," he hissed.

She kept her eyes shut and shook her head, letting out a sob.

"I can't… he won't let me…"

Severus looked up at Finneas, but the man shook his head, looking extremely concerned.

"She's blocking me out," he whispered.

"Can she do that?"

Finneas shook his head.

"No… but her Overseer can…"

Severus frowned while Stephanie began crying harder.

"I'm not telling her to-"

"Not you… her new Overseer…"

There was a brief pause before Severus spoke.

"_Her new Overseer_? Are you saying she _switched _Overseers?" Severus asked furiously and Stephanie let out a sob, pulling away from Severus and pushing herself as far into the corner as she could, the pain growing stronger. Finneas frowned.

"I don't know, that's the problem… she's blocking me…"

"Blocking you? The only way she could do that is if she were stable or if I told her to," Severus hissed, watching Stephanie carefully.

Before Finneas could respond, the basement door finally exploded, but instead of Death Eaters running down, Moody and Remus showed up with Tonks and a couple others right behind her. Their eyes instantly fell on Stephanie, who was still crying in the corner.

"Severus, we need to get you out of here quickly. It's only a matter of time until Dreyfus catches wind of this and then there's nothing we can do for you," Moody growled.

Severus shook his head.

"We can't move her. Not yet."

Remus moved forward.

"Severus, we don't have much time. You'll get arrested if you and Stephanie don't come now!"

"NO!"

They all turned to see Stephanie struggling to her feet and staggering past Severus. He reached out to grab her but she ducked out of the way, continuing forward towards the basement steps. Tonks grabbed her by the arms but Stephanie began flailing around, screaming at the top of her longs.

"LET GO OF ME! I CAN'T STAY HERE ANYMORE!" she shrieked. "LET GO!"

Finneas snatched her from Tonks and stared into her wild eyes, his own starting to burn.

"We need to go," he whispered.

"What?" Moody growled.

Finneas let go of Stephanie and she dropped to the ground, sobbing hysterically as she clutched her head in unbelievable pain. Finneas backed away from her towards the stairs.

"We must go. Hogsmeade is not safe."

Severus was about to grab Stephanie, but Finneas shook his head quickly.

"Leave her! We must go now!"

Remus frowned.

"What the hell is going on? Why must we leave her?"

"Her Overseer… he's coming."

"What? What's going on? I thought that Severus-"

"WE NEED TO GO!" Finneas roared. "LEAVE HER!"

With that said he disappeared up the stairs. Severus ignored the man and picked Stephanie up, but she started struggling against him.

"No," she sobbed, trying desperately to get away from him. The pain got worse when he was close. She did not want the pain. "Don't! Leave me here! You can't take me! I'm not safe anymore!"

"Stephanie, what-"

"MOODY! WE JUST SPOTTED THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS HEADING THIS WAY! WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE UNLESS YOU WANT TO ATTACK VOLDEMORT NOW!" someone screamed from upstairs.

"Oh my God…" Tonks whispered, finally realizing what was going on. "She switched…"

"NOW MOODY! WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME!"

Remus grabbed Severus and hauled him towards the door while Stephanie collapsed on the floor, a wreck.

"I'm so sorry, Severus," she started whispering over and over again as tears poured from her agonized eyes. "I'm so sorry…"

Moody pulled out his wand and pointed it at Stephanie. Tonks eyes widened and Severus made a lunge for Moody.

"What are you doing?!" Tonks demanded.

Moody pointed to Stephanie.

"We can't let Voldemort get her," he growled. "If Voldemort gets her, we lose!"

"_You son of a bitch, don't touch her_," Severus hissed, pulling away from Remus.

Stephanie let out a bloodcurdling scream, clutching her head as she tried to stop the visions. She had to stop as long as possible to give them time… She needed to give them time to live…

Moody rounded on Severus.

"You know what she's capable of! If a telepathic doesn't have a way to tell their visions they become violent! She's dangerous and we cannot let Voldemort have her!" he bellowed.

The woman on the floor sobbed harder, the fighting not helping her situation at all. With all the voices surrounding her, all she had to do was open her eyes and her Overseer would know everything.

She could not let that happen.

"You can't kill her!"

"We have to get out of here!" someone screamed from upstairs. "They're coming!"

Moody turned to the others downstairs and pointed to Severus.

"Get him out of here!" he growled. "NOW!"

They reached for Severus but he moved to quickly and darted over so that he was in front of Stephanie, blocking her from sight.

"You kill her and all of her memories will be transferred to her Overseer!" Severus snarled.

"If we give her to them then we're all _dead_!" Moody roared. "She knows too much and she'll find us all!"

"You kill her and they will," Severus growled, pointing to her. "She's fighting right now and she could still fight it!"

"BUT NOT FOR LONG!" Moody growled. "She's too weak and she won't last long against Voldemort's torture! We have to kill her!"

"WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" someone screamed. "THEY'RE CLOSING?!"

Moody and Severus locked eyes and Severus shook his head.

"Don't do this… we could still get her back," he whispered, desperation evident in his voice.

Stephanie suddenly lunged for the steps, letting out a shriek, but Tonks and Remus snatched her and yanked her back, holding her down as she struggled violently against them, yelling out profanities before turning her rage upon Severus.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH, LET ME GO!" she screamed at him. "THIS IS YOUR FAULT! I HATE YOU!"

"WE HAVE TO GO NOW!"

But Stephanie was not done yet. With a strength that surpassed anything possible, she broke away from Remus and Tonks, launching them into the walls around them before she threw herself at Severus, knocking him down as she began to strike at him vehemently.

"EVERYTHING HURTS BECAUSE OF YOU! YOU BASTARD! YOU DIDN'T STOP IT!" she shrieked before she was blasted off of him into the wall, crashing to the ground unconscious.

Moody hauled Severus up off the ground and shoved him to the stairs, eyeing the woman on the ground.

"We have to go," he snarled and before Severus could say anything else, they all went upstairs, leaving Stephanie to her Overseer…

**A/N: Sorry it took so long. With Thanksgiving Break and finals coming up, I've been swamped. Papers and projects and tests. It's insane! My writer's block is getting better, so I've written a couple of other chapters, but please don't expect another update anytime soon. I've got two more weeks of school and have to focus on some other things beside Fanfiction, so bear with me. Thank you!**

**Snowwolf:** I'll do my best. BTW, could you only review once. It gets _really_ confusing when I'm trying to answer reviews. Thanks! :-)

**cha cha dancer:** This chapter I loved because it gives you a lot more information about what's going on with Stephanie and how her relationship with Severus is so dangerous.

**jenny:** Yes, Hermione is always hurt, but at the moment it's hard to find someone else to hurt because they're all being safe and stuff. Next chapter will be different though. Liked your joke! How do you drop a laptop down stairs? Very strange.... Oh don't worry about the whole Stephanie thing. As you can see, if Voldemort gets her, her attention is definitely going to change.

**ronandmion4ever:** You know, I was actually waiting a little between updates so that you could have a chance to review, but when you didn't, I was like, I have to update, so I did. I liked that part with Hermione also. I always like giving her un-Hermione things to do because she's always such a straight arrow. I hate it when Hermione's friends with a boy who likes her and she doesn't like him back he start's getting all annoying and stuff. (I think I've written a story about that) :-) But that guy wasn't annoying. He was just crazy and stuff. I love Curtis because accepts Ron as a necessary part of her life. _Ron_ on the other hand... we'll just see how he accepts Curtis... I've been to London a couple of times, but never long enough to visit London Bridge and stuff like that. We saw the Wax Museum, and trust me, I am never going there again. I think I was seven years old and we _had_ to go through the torture chambers down in the basement or something. WRONG!! I do not like wax museums... very creepy places... (As you can see, I have a few unresolved issues) BTW, I am not reading your review with a blank face. I was smiling when I first read it actually. I did have a very good Thanksgiving, thank you! I hope you did too!

**nextbestthing:** Yes, but like always, there's never a dull moment in these stories and of course Harry's missing and other bad things are happening... I have got nothing better to do...

**ThEnAmEsGiGi:** You know, I was actually thinking about killing off his parents... but then I decided that that would be too cruel to a character that everyone seems to have a genuine affection for. (I'm not that mean).

(I'm going to get a review back saying that I am that mean because I killed off Angelina, arent I...)

**ICanCTheFuture:** I tried to balance that last chapter out with minimal violence in this chapter.

**Fyre of the Funeral Pyre:** I haven't been to a McDonalds in a very long time. But I'm lovin' it that your lovin' it!

**mgmve2008:** Probably stole it from some Auror outside the room. As for the Knight Bus, I knew a lot of people were starting to wonder if Hermione was falling off the cannon wagon and losing every ounce of her J.K. Rowling invented self, so I decided to do something creative to show that, yes even though she has been knocked around and most likely has _less_ brain cells now than she did to begin with, she is still the same smart Hermione that we know and love. As for Curtis, I think he's still processing.

**wow60:** I think Curtis is willing to put aside his unrequited "liking" for Hermione so that he can help her at any time.

**OzDust:** Or making himself sick with worry. Ron's got _so_ much to worry about right now!

**xMidnight Muse:** We all hope Harry's okay. As for Fred, I don't think he'll be recovering any time soon.

**x-x-xCAROLANNEx-x-x:** Oh you're going to love the next chapter!

**rhrshipper23:** Next chapter's going to have a bit of action as well.

**qt4good:** The pace in this one was slowed down a lot, but I think next chapter the pace will quicken again.

**Wow! There were a lot of reviews this time! Keep it up you guys! I love hearing what you all think about this story! It's encouraging and helpful!**

**R/R!**

**Chapter Tease: (Of course!)**

_"I'm going to make you scream for me to stop," hissed into her ear, pressing himself against her. _

_"Let go of me!" she screamed. "Let go!"_

_"Not until I get what I want," he growled. _

_Ginny spit in his face. _

_"There!" she snapped. "Now let go!"_

**Of course, Ginny's in trouble. She's with Voldemort, what did you expect?**


	29. I Know Just Where You're Going

**A/N: Hey, I just wanted to say before you started reading that I'm going to be taking a bit of a break for a while. With my Christmas break coming up, I'm going to be taking some time off not only to visit family and stuff, but to catch up with myself. I want to be on top of things and at the moment I don't feel that way, so please be patient and understand that I need some time to get my thoughts together and stuff. This DOES NOT mean that I won't finish the stories. I **_**will**_** finish them. I just need some time to get a few chapters ahead of where I am right now so that I feel like I'm really getting somewhere. **

**Thanks for understanding!**

_Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate._ **-Unknown**

* * *

Hermione followed Ron down the stairs and into the kitchen where quite a few people were gathered. Before she had a chance to really identify any of them her vision was blocked by long brown hair and a sob that brought more pain to Hermione than any car crash ever could.

"Mum!" she whispered, hugging the person back as hard as she could while her father came up beside her. When her mother pulled away, she gave her father a hug as well, her heart breaking even more when she saw tears come to her father's eyes. "I'm so sorry!" Hermione cried. "I never meant for this to happen. I never wanted-"

"It's okay, Hermione," her mother cut in, hugging her again. "We're just so glad that you're okay. We heard about the car accident and we saw Curtis when you came in! There was so much blood! We didn't know if you would be okay!"

"Mum, it's my fault! I didn't…" Hermione drifted off when she caught sight of Curtis, standing in the corner with Remus. He looked a little worse for wear. "Oh Curtis! Are you okay?" she asked, sill clinging to her mother. "Were you hurt?"

Curtis went over and placed a hand on her shoulder, watching her carefully.

"Better than you," he whispered. "Are you okay?"

Hermione shook her head, pulling away from her parents and leaning into him, burying her face in his chest.

"I don't know," she sobbed. "Everything's gone wrong…"

Ron felt his heart constrict a little at the sight of her in the young man's arms and he turned, leaving the kitchen quietly.

"Ron."

He looked over to the living room to see his father standing there, ashen and grave.

"Yeah dad," Ron responded weakly, moving over to the door of the living room.

"Are you okay?"

Ron snorted, leaning against the wall in exhaustion.

"I don't know… Angelina's gone… Harry's missing… Ginny's missing…" he muttered, fading out when his mind flashed back to what he had just witnessed in the kitchen. Mr. Weasley observed his son with concern. He was still wearing the bloody clothes that he had had on when Hermione had come in and he was looking extremely sick. He placed a hand on Ron's shoulder and frowned when the young man actually wobbled a little.

"Ron, you need to get some rest. You're wearing yourself out," he said.

Ron shook his head.

"I'm fine. I got about twenty minutes upstairs after the Healer left," he muttered before he closed his eyes as a sudden wave of lightheadedness overtook him. Mr. Weasley frowned.

"Ron, you really should-"

"What's going on with Snape?" Ron gritted out through clenched teeth, not wanting to get into an argument with his father.

Mr. Weasley sighed.

Ron had always tried to prove himself to others and over the past few days, especially with Hermione and Harry gone, he had been pushing himself harder than his body had time to recover for and it had been starting to show in the past couple of days. Arthur also knew that it was no use arguing with Ron.

His youngest son was a determined young man.

He got that from his mother.

Sighing again, he glanced behind him into the living room where Snape, Moody and Dumbledore were talking quietly with Tonks standing near by. Moody looked upset, as always, but Snape had a surprisingly unhinged look in his eyes.

"We lost Stephanie Warner earlier this morning," he said.

"What?"

Mr. Weasley looked over at his son.

"Warner switched her Overseer from Snape to someone else who happens to work for Voldemort… Dumbledore hasn't told the Ministry yet," he muttered. "If he does, he'll have to hand over Snape."

Ron frowned.

"Why would Stephanie-"

"It doesn't matter why, Ron. What does matter is that it happened and now Voldemort can use her… he could find Harry before we do."

Ron visibly paled, but stood straighter against the wall.

"We still can't find him?"

Arthur knew that this was eating away at his son. It was eating away at all of them. They knew Voldemort did not have him yet; that was for certain. But the fact that he had not yet surfaced gave them little comfort.

"We're searching Ron, but we have to be very careful about this. If the wizarding world finds out that we've lost Harry Potter again then things are going to look very bad," he told his son. "This all has to be done delicately."

"What about Ginny?" Ron asked quickly.

At that, Ron's father's face drained of all color at the thought of his only daughter.

"I…" his voice cracked and it took him a moment to get it together. "Dumbledore assures me that Voldemort will not harm her until he gets Harry… and since we know he doesn't have Harry-"

"Dad, do you honestly think that's going to work for long?" Ron asked incredulously. "If Voldemort doesn't get Harry soon he'll start baiting him and _then_ he'll hurt Ginny. He knows Harry will come if she's hurt."

Mr. Weasley took a shaky breath and tried to calm his nerves.

"Let's hold on to the faith that she'll get out of there before anything happens…"

Ron looked around the grim area, eyes darkening.

"Mum still at the hospital with Fred?" he asked bleakly.

Mr. Weasley nodded, the pain of his twin son showing prominently in his eyes. Things had gone from bad to worse with Fred ever since he'd found out about Angelina. The poor young man had been inconsolable and even George had to stop trying after a while. In the end, the twin ended up crying on the ground, his mother holding him as his world crashed beneath him. Bill, Charlie and Percy had been called away by the Ministry and Ron had been forced to stay at home after he had almost collapsed from pain and exhaustion at the hospital. Luna and Neville had accompanied Ron's oldest brothers at the Ministry. Alicia had been released and after a hasty and cold goodbye to George, she had gone to her parents' home to make sure they were okay, leaving George with no doubt that he would not be seeing her for a very long time. Lee Jordon and Katie Bell showed up at the hospital a short while after the attack and had sat with George silently while Fred continued to lose it.

"Arthur."

Mr. Weasley and Ron looked into the living room to see the fireplace burning bright green before Kingsley stepped out.

"Alastor, we have a situation in London," he said in his deep voice.

"What's going on?" Moody asked while the others approached the tall Auror.

"Death Eaters are approaching the Muggleborn district. We've sent people ahead but with this sort of attack we're going to need every one we can get," he explained quickly, glancing over at Mr. Weasley and Ron. "They think Harry's hiding there."

Dumbledore shook his head.

"They don't know he's missing."

Kingsley nodded, pointing towards the front door angrily.

"Yes, but they saw him leave here, Albus," he snapped. "They know he's not here!"

"So they're attacking the Muggleborn district… why?"

Ron went tense instantly.

"Hermione. They knew Hermione was staying in the district so they figured Harry must have been," he said quickly.

Moody shook his head.

"Well it doesn't matter now. Come on, all of you. Remus!" he called towards the kitchen.

Mr. Weasley shook his head, grabbing Ron by the shoulder before he could get to the fire place.

"I don't think so. You're not going out there," he snapped.

Ron shrugged his father off, shaking his head.

"You heard Kingsley, Dad. They're going to need all the help they can get! I have to go and help!"

"You're not going!"

Ron narrowed his eyes.

"I'm of age, Dad, you can't stop me from going," he growled.

"You're not well, Ron," Mr. Weasley hissed. "You're not focused on the right thing-"

"Arthur, he's coming," Moody growled, grabbing a hold of Ron's arm and yanking him over to the fireplace before turning to Snape. "You better hope Stephanie hasn't cracked yet or we're all screwed!"

* * *

"WE'VE GOT HER!"

Ginny looked up from what she was doing when the cheering started around Hogsmeade. She bit her lip, shivering terribly as the cold snow drifts past through the tool shed slates. The fact that they had removed her coat and shoes did not help her current condition in the slightest.

She moved to the front of the shed and peered through the slit in the door. Beyond the guards at the door she could see the town beyond the house nearby. There were many Death Eaters around, cheering and pointing at something she could not see.

She watched her breath crystallize in front of her as she sighed before she moved to the back of the shed again. She kneeled down to peer through the small hole she had managed to make in the corner of the shed. She could see the snow falling heavily to the ground, covering the backyard she was in and the forest beyond.

After five hours of working on it, she had only made it big enough for her head to get through. Not that she hadn't been working hard, she had bloody fingers to prove that she had; the problem was that her fingers had become so numb from the freezing cold that her progress had slowed significantly. She also had to do some other distracting things so that the guards outside would not get curious as to her occasional gasp of pain and then longstanding silence.

She had created a castle out of the firewhiskey bottles left by Hogwarts students and gardening potions she had found on various shelves in the shed. She had also attracted a lot of attention to the front of the shed when she tried to break the door with a shovel. That had not ended well for her.

Let's just say that when she woke up a couple of hours later, her coordination was not the only thing that was off for a while.

Ginny reached up and gingerly touched the gash at the back of her head. The wound had stopped bleeding a while ago because of the cold, but it still ached. She sighed again as she reached out and began pulling at the wood, trying to make the hole bigger.

She had tried to escape earlier and it had not worked out so well. It was when they had still been in the woods and somehow she had managed to get off the train. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, Voldemort was getting on the train so that he could go to Hogwarts and she had run right into him.

A _very_ frightening thing.

She had not been punished for escaping. But her guards were.

_They're probably at the bottom of the river by now_, she thought bitterly as she tore off a small piece of wood. She examined her fingers briefly and pulled out a particularly large splinter from her bleeding fingertips.

"Who do you think her Overseer is?" one of her guards asked.

"I think it's Malfoy, lucky bastard," the other guard said. He then snorted. "Figures, since Snape was her original one."

This caught Ginny's attention.

She moved away from the hole again and leaned her ear against the door, biting her lip to hold back the jolt of pain that came from her injury.

"The traitor. I don't know why the Dark Lord trusted him for so long. Sleeping with a silly little telepathic," the first guard muttered darkly.

The other one laughed.

"Have you _seen_ that silly little telepathic? She's _hot_," he said with a hint of lust in his voice. "Curves in all the right places, just like Weasley in there," he added.

Ginny pulled away from the door, her stomach churning sickeningly. She wobbled a little when her head became a little light before she leaned back in to listen some more.

"Humph! Sure, but we can't _touch_ either of them, can we? I don't know why the Dark Lord's so interested in keeping little Miss Bitchy all untouched. She's Potter's girl, I don't know why we have to show her any sort of respect," the first man grumbled.

"You've seen what he'll do if you touch her," the second guy hissed. "The Dark Lord fried the last guards."

"So! I haven't had any for months and that little bitch is pushing my buttons because she knows we can't touch her! I just want a chance to push some of _her_ buttons and see how she likes it," the first guy growled.

Ginny suddenly started trembling more than usual and pulled away from the door, not wanting to listen anymore.

She had seen the way her guards had looked at her over the past few days and her only comfort was that Voldemort had worse plans for her…

She sighed, looking down at her fingers.

So much for only comfort…

She moved back to the hole and began working on it again, but that time she got up way to fast, her head became very light and she ended up tripping over herself. She hit a shelf and a couple of extra bottles of fertilizing potions crashed to the ground. She let out a small cry when a few shards dug into her hand.

"What the hell is she doing now?" she head one of the guards ask.

"I swear to God, I'm going to break her," the other one growled.

Ginny's eyes widened and she quickly moved, shoving a large crate into the corner, effectively blocking the hole before she pulled out the castle she had made earlier and pushed it towards the broken glass. She picked up a couple of rags from the shelf and wrapped around her bleeding hands and fingers. Ginny had just grabbed another bottle when the door opened and the two guards came in, Death Eater masks on. She took a small step backward, wobbling a little and blinking rapidly.

"What?" she snapped.

They removed their masks and looked around suspiciously. The first guard approached her, his eyes roving over her trembling body with obvious lust.

"You causing trouble again?" he asked.

Ginny pointed to the castle, which was the only thing that was between her and some serious physical and possibly emotional damage.

"I'm _bored_," she replied heatedly. "Do you expect me to just sit around and twiddle my thumbs?"

The second guy eyed the castle carefully.

"Among other things," he said, looking up at her. "Cold?"

They saw her jaw set as she placed her hands on her hips and took another step backwards as the first guard approached her again.

"It's snowing outside and this place is like Swiss cheese, what do you think?" she snapped. Her stomach did another nauseating flip flop when her back hit the shed wall. She noticed a glint of want in the man's eyes and she held up her rag covered hand.

The man smirked.

"How'd you like to get warm?"

Ginny tried to put on a brave front while she started to panic internally.

"How'd you like to get your arse kicked by your boss when he finds out you screwed me?" she growled.

The second guard pointed his wand at her.

"You've always been a bit too mouthy," he snarled. "How about we shut you up?"

Ginny grabbed the closest bottle of potions and lobbed it at the first guard. The man dodged the bottle and lunged at Ginny, snatching her by the throat and slamming her into the wall, causing the wound on the back of her head to start bleeding again. The man leaned into her ear, his hot breath on her cold skin bringing more nauseating feelings into her body.

"I'm going to make you scream for me to stop," hissed into her ear, pressing himself against her.

"Let go of me!" she screamed. "Let go!"

"Not until I get what I want," he growled.

Ginny spit in his face.

"There!" she snapped. "Now let go!"

"Bitch!"

He swung her around and slammed her into the shelf, spilling potions all over the place as she let out a cry of pain. He grabbed her shoulders and turned her over so that she was on her back in the glass. Ginny reached out and clawed at his eyes. He swore and hit her in the face with the butt of his wand, stunning her effectively.

"Hold her down," he hissed to the other guy. "I'm going to enjoy myself."

The second guard grabbed her hands while the man on top of her reached down and ripped open her shirt, causing her to let out a terrified cry.

"Hold still you little bitch!" he growled.

"_Avada Kerdava!"_

Ginny screamed as the man who had held her hands down fell to the floor, dead. She pulled herself out from under him, clutching her torn shirt as tightly around her shaking body as possible as she looked up to see Voldemort standing there for three other guards. The first guy stood up, eyes wide and face pale.

"My Lord… I was just-"

"SHUT UP!"

Everything fell silent. Even the wind outside seemed to quiet down at the sound of Voldemort's enraged voice. His snake like eyes fell upon the guard, burning into the man's soul.

"I know the temptation is very great, but I will ask you one more time not to touch her. Do it again and the next thing you'll be screwing is yourself," he hissed.

The man fell to his knees.

"My Lord, thank you," he mumbled along with some other adulations to the evil before him. Ginny watched in disgust as he blubbered and thanked Voldemort profusely. Voldemort had the same expression on his face.

"Get that out of there," Voldemort hissed, eyeing Ginny and her shredded shirt. He then looked at the randy guard. "Get back to your post!" The man stumbled out of the door and went to the side of the shed. She heard a thump against the wall and she let out a whimper. Voldemort's eyes fell on her once again and she covered her body with her quivering arms, lowering her eyes from his. She knew he was reading her mind and she tried to think of anything besides the hole in the wall and Harry.

Unfortunately, Harry was the first thing that came to her mind and she gasped when a certain memory popped up.

"_If the vampires decide to join Voldemort, they're going to kill us!" Ginny yelled. "We're going to die!"_

"_Ginny, why are you acting like this?!" Harry demanded. "You're scaring everyone!"_

"_Because I don't want to lose you!" Ginny bellowed before she fell completely silent, staring at Harry with a shocked look on her face. Everyone else held their breath as they waited for Harry to respond, though by the shocked look on his face, it seemed unlikely that he would. _

_But he did move. He took a quick step towards Ginny and gathered her in his arms, holding her tightly as she broke down sobbing in his arms._

"_I can't lose you, Harry," she whispered. "Not now."_

_Harry looked completely petrified now as he held her close, kissing her brow. _

"_You're not going to lose me, Gin," he whispered into her hair. "I won't let that happen…"_

Ginny gasped again as pain swept from the gash on her head down her back. She opened her eyes and saw Voldemort watching her carefully before he turned to a small crowd that had formed outside. He moved out of the doorway so that they could all see Ginny inside. He pointed at her.

"If _anyone_ touches her again, I'll make sure that you all suffer."

With that said he moved off and disappeared into the snowstorm that had now made the town of Hogsmeade almost impossible to see. After the bodies had been removed from the shed, four more guards took up post at the shed, slamming the door in Ginny's face.

Ginny looked down at what was left of her shirt before she moved to the door to look out. She could see two of the guards standing by the door, but beyond that she could not see anything anymore. The snowstorm was too bad.

Biting her lip, she crawled to the back of the shed, shoved the crate out of the way and began tearing at the wooden boards desperately. She would stop occasionally to see if the guards outside had noticed, but all she could hear was the howling of the wind coming through the boards.

When she got a hole in the wall that she knew was big enough for her, she stuck her head out and checked to see if someone was around. Biting her lip, she pulled her head back in and shoved the crate in front of the hole before she looked around the shed for something. After her little stunt with the shovel, they had removed all of the tools from the shed. She would have to resort to using the broken bottle glass.

She snatched one up from the floor and tucked it in her jeans before she went to the door.

"Um… I'm _really_ cold in here," she whispered. "Could I get a jacket?"

She heard the man who had attacked her before snort and she heard movement outside of the door.

"Don't fall for it. The little bitch'll get you in trouble," he hissed. He slammed his fist against the door, causing her to fall back a little before she narrowed her eyes and she moved back to the door, tapping on it a little.

"I'm sorry," she whispered urgently. She tried to think of something that would get him in here. "I've never been with anyone before and you scared me…" She bit her lip and closed her eyes. "Harry never had the… _balls_ to try to make love to me… He's not a real man…"

There was another snort.

"Damn right he's not a real man," someone muttered under their breath.

Ginny glanced over at the hole in the wall. She could tell that the storm was getting worse and with the clothes she was wearing, or lack thereof, she would not be able to last long if she stalled for any longer.

"I'm _really_ cold… I promise not to make a sound… I just… I need someone to keep me warm… And Voldemort… you can't let him have all the _fun_," she whispered, disgusted with herself for saying such words. But she needed him to come inside.

"You're not going to fall for that are you?" one of the other guards asked. "She'll get you in trouble."

She heard snow crunch and the door shifted a little.

"Don't worry. This time I'll silence her," the guard hissed before opening the door. Ginny stumbled back as he entered and shut the door. She bit her lip, seeing the lust in the man's eyes. She stood up and pressed herself to the back wall, glancing over to the crate. However before she could make a move he had her against the wall, his lips on her clammy skin. His hands moved down to her jeans, unzipping them quickly before he pressed his wand to her neck.

"I'm going to make you forget who Potter even is," he growled into her neck, his wand digging into her skin. Ginny let out a gasp before he murmured something and her voice was gone. She squeezed her eyes shut when she felt her jeans being pulled off. She managed to slip the piece of glass out of them before they hit her ankles and he started working on her already torn shirt. "I'm going to have fun with this," his hands moving forcefully up her leg to her hip, pulling her closer to him than she ever wanted to be.

Suddenly he staggered away from her, falling into the shelf as he clutched the piece of glass that protruded from his neck. Ginny pressed herself to the wall as he began to choke up blood, falling to his knees, eyes wide with shock. Ginny bit her lip to keep herself from crying out loud as she slid to the ground, watching the man die before her. His wide eyes met hers and he reached out for her.

"You bitch," he gurgled before toppling forward into the shelf. The door was hit.

"Hey, Macklen? What the hell's going on in there? Too much to handle?" the guard asked quickly.

Ginny grabbed the man's wand and waved it over the dead man's throat before she waved it over her own.

"Weasley's just a little wound up," she growled out with the voice of the Death Eater inside. She reached out and snatched her jeans, shoving them back on.

The man outside chuckled.

"Well, hurry up and _loosen_ her up before Voldemort decides to come back."

"Then shut up and let me concentrate!" Ginny barked as she shoved the body out of the way and pulled the crate away from the hole, glancing behind her continuously. She was about to crawl through the hole before she stopped and looked back at the body. Fighting back the terrifying tears, she reached out and began pulling on the robes around the man. She got them off of him and put them on before she grabbed his mask and tucked it in the robes. She then went back to the hole and after glancing out to make sure no one was out there, she crawled through, biting her lip when certain sharp pieces pierced through the robes and into her side. She managed to drag herself through and pressed herself to the back of the shed, as the snow began to plow into her. She then took off for the woods, wand in hand and body quaking as she ran as fast as she could through the freezing cold gale force winds.

When she made it to the woods, the winds let up a little and she was able to move a bit easier through the knee deep snow. She tried to apparate as she moved, but it was not working so she continued to run.

"ARRH!"

Ginny skidded to a halt and fell backwards into the snow before she turned and moved slowly through the winds to the voice. Someone continued to scream with tremendous volume through the thunderous winds that surrounded them in the storm. She found herself looking into a clearing where a small camp had been set up. There were three cages outside of a large tent in the middle and a huge table was near the cage. But that was not what had frightened her.

What was in the cage and on the table was what stopped her…

"Oh my God…" she gasped, peering out from behind a tree. "Viorel…"

The vampire was strapped down to the large table by bonds that seemed tighten every time he struggled against them. Though he was perfect in every other way, the arm that had been ripped horribly from his body when they had been in the Bypass was still missing, making it a strange and terrifying sight to behold.

Four Death Eaters were standing around Viorel, eyeing him and prodding him with their wands while a few others mulled around, avoiding the cage as much as possible.

A Manic…

The terrifying mutation seemed to be sleeping in the cage, making strange noises occasionally if someone got too close to the cage.

"How long do we have to keep that thing?" one of the Death Eaters asked, glancing fearfully over at the dormant monster.

"That thing is the only reason _this_ thing hasn't attacked us yet," the eldest of them growled.

In response Viorel let out a menacing growl that echoed briefly in the clearing before the Manic in the cage cut him off with a retaliating snarl, making Ginny realize that the thing was not sleeping. It was just pretending to sleep.

"Shut up," one of the men snapped, while taking a tentative step away from the Manic cage. Viorel was about to growl again when a gust of wind blew through the trees past Ginny and to the tents. The vampire instantly went stiff, his nostrils flaring and his razor sharp teeth clenching.

Biting her lip, she knew he had caught her scent and that only worried her. If she wanted to help him, she would have to move quickly.

She did not have much time to get away before they noticed that she was no longer in the shed and that her randy dead guard was well… dead…

Pulling out the wand she pointed it to the furthest tent and took a deep breath.

"_Incendio,_" she muttered under her breath and fortunately the tent caught fire. She quickly put on the mask in her pocket, in case someone spotted her.

Immediately the four dealing with Viorel along with seven others who appeared out of no where ran over to the flaming tent, ignoring the small Death Eater that moved from out of the snow covered bushes and towards that table. Before she even had a chance to speak, Viorel's head swiveled around, his black eyes piercing her soul. She should not have been surprised that he knew who she was, even with the Mask on.

"Ginerva," he hissed warningly. "_You're bleeding_!"

Ginny saw the lust in his eyes and hesitated.

On one hand she could free him and risk being killed, but on the other hand, she could just run away and leave him to the Death Eater's experimentations.

Biting her lip and regretting what she was about to do, she pointed her wands at his bonds. She muttered the counter charm and the bonds were immediately released.

Viorel was up instantly, crouching feral like down on the table as his eyes moved from both Ginny and the now wide awake Manic, who had also smelt Ginny and noticed Viorel's movement. The thing began jumping at the bars, howling a bloodcurdling scream every time the cage strengthened itself against him. The Manic grabbed the bars and bared its teeth and mandibles at them.

"_I WILL HAVE YOUR FLESH!_" it screeched.

"HEY! THE VAMPIRE'S GOTTEN LOOSE!"

Ginny whirled around to see five of the Death Eaters heading back, the tent flames out completely. Viorel got off of the table, putting himself in front of Ginny and backing them up quickly. Whether or not it was to protect Ginny or a possessive instinct to guard his soon-to-be kill, Ginny was unsure of, but she was glad he did.

"GET THEM!"

Viorel turned and without missing a beat, snatched Ginny up into his arm and began to move with breath taking speed through the snow and trees, his eyes getting darker with every second. Ginny could tell he wasn't breathing and knew that her blood was posing too much of a temptation for him.

She was about to suggest him letting her run herself when a heart stopping shriek rent through the air and Viorel stopped himself, eyes narrowed and deadly. Ginny looked behind them and her eyes widened.

"Oh my God!"

* * *

"Lucius, how long is this going to take?"

The Malfoy trembled a little at the impatience and menace in Voldemort's voice as they continued to watch Stephanie Warner sit in a chair across from them.

"She's still recovering, my Lord," Lucius muttered, concentrating on Stephanie. "It may take a while."

"I do not have a while," Voldemort hissed. "Harry Potter is out there somewhere and I want to know where."

Lucius shifted in his seat before leaning forward and glaring at Stephanie, who refused to look at him.

"Show me Harry Potter, Stephanie," he growled.

Stephanie blinked wearily, swaying a little.

"I want to go to sleep," she murmured.

"Show me Harry Potter."

She let out a groan.

"I'm tired… Please let me sleep," she begged, her eyes closing momentarily.

"Stephanie, find Harry Potter!"

"I'm tired, I can-"

"ENOUGH!" Voldemort roared, getting up from his seat and moving over to Stephanie, wand drawn. He grabbed her by her hair and yanked her head back so that she had to stare up at him, eyes wide and fearful. He placed his wand at her neck, digging it into her skin. "Ask her again where Potter is, Lucius, or she'll go through much worse than Dreyfus gave her," he hissed.

Lucius leaned forward in his seat and began speaking again.

"Stephanie, if you want to rest, tell me where Harry is!"

"Harry's a good person," she gasped out.

"_Crucio!_"

Stephanie screamed, her body writhing in the chair before Voldemort released his hold on her. The young woman shook her head, sobbing pitifully.

"Please… I'm too tired!"

Malfoy looked up at Voldemort.

"Telepathics are useful when they're at their full capacity, my Lord," he murmured. "Perhaps we should give her a few hours of sleep?"

Voldemort's red snake-like eyes rested on Lucius.

"Perhaps I should torture you for information, Lucius, since you obviously have qualms about doing this," he hissed.

Lucius quailed under the look and turned back to Stephanie.

"Tell me where Harry is."

"I'm tired-"

"_CRUCIO!_"

"In the woods!" Stephanie shrieked, sobbing uncontrollably as her body was wracked with excruciating pain. "He's in the woods!"

"What woods?!"

"The Forbidden Forest! He's here!" Stephanie screamed before he released her and she crumbled to the ground, a sobbing mess. She started mumbling something about Severus Snape, but Voldemort and Malfoy ignored her.

"Where in the woods?" Voldemort hissed.

At this point, Stephanie did not care anymore…

"The train tracks… he's passing over the bridge…" she mumbled into the ground. "Can I please go to sleep?"

"Harry's here? Why would he come here?" Lucius murmured, ignoring Stephanie's mutterings.

Voldemort rolled his eyes.

"Because his lady love is here. Bring the girl in here and shut _that one_ up," he added, pointing to Stephanie, who was still crying on the floor. With that said, Voldemort moved silently out of the room, his mind racing.

He had been searching for Harry for a long time…

And the fool had finally come to him…

This would be easy…

He exited the Three Broomsticks with five Death Eaters trailing him at a safe distance and quickly made his way through the snow past the many buildings and Death Eaters who crowded Hogsmeade's streets. He made it to the back of a large house and approached the shed where Ginny Weasley was being kept. There were three guards that he could see.

To further add to Voldemort's annoyance, one of the Death Eaters started pounding on the shed door as if hoping to warn his randy friend to hurry it up and get out.

That would not help him though.

"Open the door," Voldemort hissed, ignoring the bumbling explanations from his incompetent men. "_Open it_."

One of the guards did as they were told and opened it.

There was a momentary silence in which Voldemort just stood there, his eyes darkening while the others began to tremble with fear.

"Sir, we had-"

"_Avada Kerdava!_"

All three of them dropped dead in the snow while the five behind him barely flinched at the flash of familiar green light. Voldemort took a deep breath and turned to look at them.

"Find her. _Now._"

**A/N: Thanks for Reading!**

**nextbestthing:** Well, she didn't _willingly_ switch. She just wasn't able to handle the pain so she switched. Now she's just extremely tired.

**Snowwolf:** 'Tis okay! I'm just glad you like the story!

**jenny:** Well, make sure you pay attention next time. I'd hate to hear from you while you're in the hospital, telling me that you were just trying to review for my story while getting a glass of milk downstairs. :-) As for Harry, we'll see what'll happen to him later.

**Mae Silverpaws:** Well, what's a good R/Hr fic without some Ron jealousy? :-) I'll try not to make it obnoxious to the point where you're rooting for Curtis, but I'll try to sneak it in there a little more.

**rhr4eva:** It will be very interesting to do a bit of Ron/Hermione/Curtis stuff, but at the moment, I think I'll worry a bit more about Ginny. Later, of course there will be a lot more of Ron and Hermione.

**ThEnAmEsGiGi:** I don't think I could ever bring myself to kill off the twins. You were right about Ginny. Nothing good has come and nothing good is going to come, judging by what Voldemort's planning to do.

**mgmve2008:** I loved Snape in the books! I was sooooo upset when he died! It was so sad!

**MerDerGirl:** As for Stephanie's new Overseer, that was an involuntary act of self-preservation.

**ronandmion4ever:** The torture scenes I write, I never reread, which is why I take so long to write them. I have to get every detail I want in there at that time so that I do not have to reread it. I gues I'm weird like that. To be honest, I hardly read any of the stories I write after they've all been completed. As for the chapter being short, I thought it was pretty long when I wrote it... Yeah, I don't think the Overseers in this fic kill children, but they're not all that good of people either. :-) I liked the R/Hr part also, but it wasn't necessarily my favorite one to write. I think my favorite one to write was in Stand to be honest. The one where Ron wakes Hermione up after she finds out that her parents are missing. As for the boyfriend thing, I think everyone wants someone to hold on to, even when their in excruciating pain. Though I hope you're never in a situation where you would be _in_ excruciating pain.

**Fyre of the Funeral Pyre:** Yes, the caps do tell me how excited you are. I think you will be fairly surprised by the next chapter.

**Chaper Tease:**

The Muggle Ministry is putting out word as quickly as possible to have Kings Cross evacuated as a national security precaution, but the radio station as been advised to repeat this for the rest of the night as a warning. 

I repeat, Death Eaters are heading towards Kings Cross!

Evacuate that vicinity immediately or risk a painful death by a Death Eater!

Evacuate Kings Cross!


	30. Death of a City

_The mere apprehension of a coming evil has put many into a situation of the utmost danger._ **–Lucan**

* * *

"_GET THEM!"_

_Viorel turned and without missing a beat, snatched Ginny up into his arm and began to move with breath taking speed through the snow and trees, his eyes getting darker with every second. Ginny could tell he wasn't breathing and knew that her blood was posing too much of a temptation for him. _

_She was about to suggest him letting her run herself when a heart stopping shriek rent through the air and Viorel stopped himself, eyes narrowed and deadly. Ginny looked behind them and her eyes widened. _

"_Oh my God!"_

* * *

They had just made it to the railroad when the Manic caught up with them. Viorel had placed Ginny down beside the track and whirled around in time to see the monstrosity barrel towards them before it launched itself into the air and slammed itself into Viorel, sending them both flying onto the other side of the tracks, screaming and biting at each other.

Viorel let out a thunderous roar, grabbing the Manic by the back of the head and yanking him away from Viorel's leg, tossing him into a tree before he turned to Ginny.

"GINERVA RUN!" Viorel managed to bellow before the Manic attacked again, eyes wild and mandibles gnashing at the stone hard flesh of his former self.

Ginny hesitated again, unsure of whether or not to leave Viorel to a rather unsightly death.

"GO!" Viorel snarled before sinking his deadly teeth into the Manic's back. The Manic let out a fearsome wail before twisting around and taking a violent slash at Viorel's stomach with his scythe like claws.

Ginny backed away quickly and began running down the tracks towards the bridge as fast as she could with frozen feet and an aching head. Behind her she could hear nightmarish screams and it only made her run harder.

"THERE SHE IS!"

Ginny looked up to see two Death Eaters on brooms zooming down towards her, wands drawn. Ginny pointed the wand she had stolen to them.

"_REDUCTO!_"

The first flyer avoided the curse, but the second person, who had been traveling directly behind the first one, got hit. He fishtailed in the air and then crashed somewhere in the forest. The first Death Eater shot towards her, going faster as she turned and started running again. It did not help that the wind was starting to pick up and the snow was starting to fall harder again so that she was starting to run blindly through the snow, her only guide the occasional glimpse of train track that shimmered out from under the white stuff.

The Death Eater flying after her yelled something into the wind and a moment later she was flat on her face in the snow, stiff as a board. She was quickly turned over and the Death Eater stared down at her.

"Thought you could get away?" he asked.

All Ginny could do was stare up at him mutely, eyes wide and heart racing as he picked her up and began carrying over to his broom.

The ground in front of him exploded quickly and he looked around and stiffened.

"_Potter_," he hissed and Ginny suddenly started freaking out.

_Harry? Harry was here?_

"Put her down," she heard someone growl and she quickly wished she had not been frozen solid.

The man holding her chuckled, pointing his wand at Harry, who was standing near the tracks, wand drawn and pointed directly at the Death Eater's heart.

"We've been looking for you, Potty," he growled. "You're in a lot of trouble."

"Put her down, _now_," Harry hissed again, moving closer.

The Death Eater immediately changed his wand direction and Ginny felt the wooden tip digging into her neck.

"Try it, Potter and your little girlfriend here gets it," he snapped.

"I'll give you one more chance to put her down before I kill you and take her myself," Harry snarled and for some strange reason Ginny felt a bit safer about it. This was going to be over very soon.

Whether she would survive was a different story, but at least she would not be in the Death Eater's arms any more.

"You know, Potter, I think I'll just kill you right now and save Voldemort the trouble! _AVADA KERDAVA!"_

"_BOMBARDA!"_

Three things happened in that moment.

The tree behind them exploded.

Ginny was dropped.

Someone died.

For a terrifying minute, Ginny was certain that it had been Harry, but after she felt herself start shivering again, she knew something else had happened.

She looked up and saw the Death Eater lying in the snow, a large piece of wood jutting out from the base of his head. Blood was starting to stain the ground around him and seep towards Ginny, who was suddenly frozen again in the snow.

That did not last long.

Someone grabbed Ginny by the arm and hauled her up to her feet and turned her around.

"Are you okay?" Harry started asking immediately, not giving Ginny a chance to say his name as he examined her quickly. "We need to get out of here."

"What-"

Harry shook his head, pulling her back towards the other side of the train tracks.

"We don't have time to go into why I'm here right now, Gin. We have to get both of us out of here before someone notices that you're not the only valuable thing out here," he snapped, marching her into the woods.

"But-"

"_Not now, Ginny_," he hissed irritably, making Ginny think that he was more annoyed with her than with the situation. "We need to get out of here before more Death Eaters show up."

Instead of arguing, which would only make things worse, Ginny followed him through the snow, shivering terribly. She could no longer feel her feet, fingers, and her legs were starting to lose feeling as well, making her think that when and if she did get back to civilization, she would be spending quite some time in the hospital.

They entered a small clearing and Harry told her to stay in the cover of the trees while he began to search around the bushes on the other side of the clearing. Ginny looked behind her when she began to hear dull noises resounding through the quiet blanketed forest around them, coming from the tracks.

"Harry! Someone's coming!" she called.

"Got it!" he yelled, running back towards her with broom in hand.

It was then that laughter began echoing through the clearing, causing both of them to freeze.

"_You think you can just leave, Harry?"_

If it was possible, Ginny started trembling harder when Voldemort appeared out of the woods, his red snake eyes laughing evilly at them as he moved closer through the snow.

"Hello, Harry," he greeted.

Harry's eyes darkened immediately with hatred and he took a step towards his enemy, but Ginny grabbed his coat and tugged on it.

"Harry no," she whispered frantically. "We need to get out of here!"

Voldemort smiled.

"Weasley, I don't believe the reason Harry came here was to get you out," he whispered, eyes glinting. "Why don't you leave now? I'd hate to have to kill you in front of him."

Ginny bit her lip, tugging more urgently on Harry's coat.

"Harry, _please_," she murmured. "We need to get out!"

Harry pushed her behind him, handing her his broom while keeping his eyes on Voldemort.

"Go, Ginny," he hissed. "Get out of here."

Ginny's eyes widened and she took a step forward.

"Harry, no!" she snapped. "You're not staying here! We have to get out of here _together_!"

Voldemort laughed again, taking another step closer to the pair, wand drawn.

"Harry, if she's not going to go, then perhaps I can make an exception and bury you two together. Her alive with your corpse rotting on top of her."

Ginny looked behind her when she heard a twig snap and her eyes widened when she saw a few Death Eaters moving towards them through the forest.

"Harry, we have to go! Please!"

"Get out of here, Ginny!"

Voldemort raised his wand.

"Suit yourself, Harry," he hissed before flicking his wand.

Harry immediately flicked his wand again and there was a large flash of light where their two curses met, blowing Harry and Ginny back while Voldemort managed to remain standing. Ginny let out a cry of pain while Harry struggled to his feet, glancing from Voldemort to Ginny.

"Are you okay, Ginny?" he asked worriedly, while trying to make sure that Voldemort did not advance on him.

Ginny looked down at her leg, where the wand she had stolen was protruding from her calf at a very bad angle. She reached down and yanked it out, screaming in pain before she bit her lip, tears flowing freely from her eyes. She looked up and her eyes widened.

"Harry, watch out!"

A flash of green light barely missed Harry and struck a Death Eater who had just emerged from the woods. Harry scrambled over to the fallen broom and snatched it up before running over to where Ginny lay on the ground, clutching her leg. He had just gotten her on the broom when Voldemort threw another curse at them. Harry deflected it weakly, his attention on Ginny.

"Running away, Harry? That's exactly what James did right before I killed him!" Voldemort jeered. "He ran like a coward!"

"Harry no!"

But Harry had already left her side, throwing wanton curses at Voldemort, who gleefully deflected them and shot deadly curses of his own at the young man.

"HARRY!"

She looked to her side and saw five Death Eaters aim their wands at Harry, preparing to kill him.

"No," she gasped.

She kicked off and without thinking, shot straight for Harry. She grabbed his coat and because of the speed at which she was flying, she was able to lift him off of the ground as she shot out of the clearing. Jets of light were fired after her but she was going to fast for them to hit the broom. Harry managed to swing himself up behind her, moving his arms around her waist so that he could take control of the broom.

Ginny looked behind her and saw a determinedly wrathful look on his face and she bit her lip.

"Harry, you'll fight him another time," she said. "There will be another chance."

Ignoring her, he pointed down to the bridge.

"We need to get to London quickly. They're going to have us followed," he yelled over the howling wind and snow that beat against them.

Ginny knew it was pointless to try, so she nodded and leaned forward with him to speed the broom up. She glanced behind her one more time and pointed.

"They're already following us!"

Harry took a quick peek before he pointed his wand behind him.

"_Bombarda!_"

One of the brooms exploded and sent its rider plummeting down to the ground while the others sped up. Ginny shook her head.

"We're not going to make it, Harry!" she shouted. "With two of us riding, we're not going to make it!"

"We'll make it!" Harry screamed.

* * *

_As far as we know, Death Eaters are rampaging through Muggle London, killing any muggle they come across. It's a nightmarish scene of death and destruction on the famous London Bridge, where four days ago, two young people were chased after pandemonium broke out at a Shacklebolt rally, where a terrorist was seen attacking one of the teenagers later seen on the London Bridge. The two teenagers disappeared without a trace and the terrorists have yet to be found. One of them is said to be Hermione Granger, a young woman who is friends with the elusive Harry Potter. The other person has yet to be identified. _

_Our sources say that the attack was an act of violence towards Shacklebolt's campaign though no one from the campaign has made a statement about the attack as of yet. _

There was a slight pause in the report from the radio then the woman began speaking again with a slightly more frantic tone.

_This just in. Death Eaters have focused their sights on Kings Cross. We just got news that Death Eaters are heading to Kings Cross. If you are listening to this, I repeat once more, Death Eaters are going to Kings Cross. If you are anywhere near the station, the Ministry of Magic and ourselves advise you to leave immediately. Aurors have been sent to defend the station, but the advise all who are on the trains or at the station to evacuate it immediately. If you know Muggles who are at the station, please send word to them as quickly as possible to get out. The Muggle Ministry is putting out word as quickly as possible to have Kings Cross evacuated as a national security precaution, but the radio station as been advised to repeat this for the rest of the night as a warning. _

_I repeat, Death Eaters are heading towards Kings Cross!_

_Evacuate that vicinity immediately or risk a painful death by a Death Eater!_

_Evacuate Kings Cross!_

Mrs. Weasley turned the radio off quickly, tears coming to her eyes as she struggled to keep calm. Hermione's parents and Curtis's parents were also in the room and looked just as worried while the others stood off to the side, quiet.

Hermione sat besides Curtis, her mind on Ron, who had not even said goodbye to her before he had left with his father and the others.

She hoped that he would be okay…

"Why is this happening?" Mrs. Jackson asked quietly. "Why are they killing people?"

There was a brief silence before Fred, who had been forced to leave the hospital after Angelina's parents had insisted (with a lot of crying) that Fred go home, spoke.

"Because they want to ruin our lives…"

* * *

Surprisingly, they did make it to London. Unfortunately, the moment they reached the outskirts of the city, the Death Eaters caught up with them.

"HARRY!" Ginny screamed, pointing to their right where one Death Eater was zooming towards them at an incredible speed.

"Hold on!" Harry shouted before pointing the broom down and they began freefalling towards Kings Cross Station, the Death Eaters right on their tail.

"Harry, pull up…. Harry, pull up! PULL UP!" Ginny screamed.

Right before they smashed into the roof, Harry yanked the front of the broom up and they flew right into the windows. Immediately people in the station started screaming as shattered glass fell down from the ceiling. Harry, who had fallen off of the broom after their crash, was barely holding on to the back of the broom, causing them to tumble to the main floor of the station in circles.

"HARRY!" Ginny cried, thinking he had fallen off.

They crashed into a huge pile of luggage while two Death Eaters flew in more easily, eyes searching for the couple. They were not hard to find. A huge crowd had gathered around the two, who were struggling to get to their feet.

"THERE!" one of the Death Eaters screamed.

"RUN!" Harry shouted, yanking Ginny out from under a suitcase and shoving her towards the exit, leaving behind his Firebolt, which had been broken in half.

They didn't make it far.

Ginny collapsed, grabbing her leg in pain while people tried to stop them.

"Hey! Are you two okay? You just fell from the ceiling!"

"The girl's hurt! Hey, boy! Stop! You're going to hurt her!"

"He's bleeding too! Look at his face and arm!"

Harry dragged Ginny along frantically, ignoring the hysterical and concerned crowd that was attracting more attention to their already depleting situation.

"Ginny, come on! We have to get out of here!"

"My leg! My leg, Harry!" she snapped.

"Hey kid! You're going to hurt her!" a man snapped, trying to grab hold of Ginny to 'protect' her from Harry.

Harry let out a growl and reached down to pick her up, all the while he kept glancing up at the Death Eaters who had just landed and were running towards them. Ginny pointed her wand at them and started spouting out curses at random as Harry ran towards the street exit of Kings Cross. However, before he reached the exit, he veered off to the right and right into the men's bathroom.

"Harry, this is the worst place! What the hell-"

"Shut up!" Harry snapped, sitting her down on the floor before going into a stall for a second before appearing again with another broom.

Two men were washing their hands and just stared at Ginny.

"What the hell are you doing?!" one of them demanded.

Ginny went completely red despite the fact that she could no longer feel most of her extremities.

"Harry, what-"

Harry grabbed her with one hand and pulled her up to her feet, ignoring the two men who were still trying to figure out why a sixteen year old girl was on the floor in the men's restroom, looking like she had just been mauled by a wolf.

"We really don't have time to discuss this," he hissed.

"What the hell's going on? What _happened_ to you two? You should go to the hospital!" one of the men by the sink snapped.

Harry helped Ginny with her agonized leg.

"I'm sorry, sir, we're going right now."

They almost made it to the door when it exploded and the four occupants in the bathroom were blasted back as the two Death Eaters entered, wands at the ready.

Almost immediately Harry began firing while Ginny was helped to her feet by two terrified men. They pulled her into one of the remaining stalls for protection while Harry struggled to fend off the two people attacking them.

"_Avada Kerdava!_"

Ginny heard two bodies drop and Harry appeared at the stall door, reaching out for her.

"Come on, we don't have much time and we _need_ to get out of here," he hissed, grabbing her roughly by the arm and dragging her out of the bathroom, leaving behind the two panicking men with the two Death Eater bodies.

The moment they got back into the main area of the station, it was obvious that things had gone from bad to worse. The London police were there along with more Death Eaters who had appeared from the front entrance.

However, something that Harry and Ginny had not expected to see were Aurors, who were coming in after the Aurors and appearing at the terminals, trying to block off the Death Eaters' progress.

"Harry! Look!"

Harry looked to where Ginny was pointed and saw Mr. Weasley, Bill and Ron moving away from Platform 9 ¾. Harry placed Ginny on the broom and got on behind her, kicking off quickly and flying over to where the three were while trying to avoid the curses shot at them by Death Eaters who had suddenly noticed that Harry Potter was above them instead of in the bathroom.

"DAD! DAD!" Ginny screamed as they flew closer.

Mr. Weasley and Ron looked up and their eyes widened. Ron pointed.

"BEHIND YOU!"

Harry looked behind in time to see three Death Eaters flying after them. He quickly changed his direction and shot up towards the broken glass ceiling, shooting back out into the snowstorm. He flew over buildings and dodged cathedral steeples as best as he could while trying to keep Ginny on. The numbness was starting to take effect and she was starting to lean off of the broom, unable to grasp the broom handle very well.

"Come on, Ginny! Stay with me!" he growled as he nose-dived into a busy four-lane street, zooming through traffic with the Death Eaters keeping perfect pace behind him.

"I can't feel anything, Harry," she cried. "I can't feel a thing!"

"Stay with me!"

"HARRY!"

A Death Eater came out of no where and nearly collided with them after shooting out from one of the side streets, almost cutting them off. The same thing happened a few minutes later and Harry was starting to think that something was wrong.

"It's like they know where we are!"

Ginny's eyes widened.

"Stephanie! They have her! They're using her to find us!"

"But I thought her Overseer was-"

"HARRY WATCH OUT!"

A large truck came out of nowhere and slammed right into them, sending them flying into the street. There was a horrific wrenching of metal as the truck veered off the road and crashed into a parked car.

For a moment, he could not hear anything. Not the horns blaring, other cars screeching or the people on the side walk, screaming, pointing and running around to avoid cars that were heading towards Harry.

Finally he heard all to well the trouble he was in. He heard the cars and he heard the people…

But he could not hear Ginny…

_Where was Ginny?_

He ran a hand across the side of his face and moved it to his eyes, his stomach churning at the amount of blood he saw. Harry got to his hands and knees, everything in his body throbbing devastatingly as cars and trucks rushed by at breakneck speeds, swerving out of the way to avoid hitting him. On the snow and ice around him he could see his own blood, but ignored it as he tried to look around.

"Ginny," he mumbled, spitting blood out of his mouth as more blood poured down his face and neck. He saw the destroyed broom nearby and could feel the splinters digging into his legs as he tried to move. "Ginny!"

He got to his feet and staggered about dazed for about two seconds before he fell to the ground, screaming in pain. He looked down at his leg and gasped upon seeing his foot twisted around in a very bad angle.

"Bloody hell," he gritted, lying on his back for a moment before he turned over on his stomach and dragged himself back up, hobbling on one foot. "Ginny," he muttered before spitting out a tooth. "Ginny…"

"Hey kid! Get out of the road! You're going to get hit!" someone screamed from the side of the road.

A large crowd had gathered, pointing and screaming as Harry stumbled around in confusion and pain, unaware of the speeding vehicles that were coming from both sides of the street.

Cars were swerving out of the way and a couple had crashed, including the truck that had struck him and Ginny.

Ginny…

He looked around and saw a mess of red hair sticking out from her limp form on the icy road, her mangled body bleeding as cars fishtailed and spun around to avoid hitting her. The snow falling and ice on the road did not help the situation and quite a few more cars that had already been going too fast were starting to slide into each other while the drivers tried desperately to brake.

"Ginny!" he managed to yell before coughing up more blood and falling to the ground, his legs giving out. Horns blared and sirens pierced through the freezing air as ambulances and police came closer. "GINNY!"

She wasn't moving and that only made it hurt more as he dragged himself through the snow towards him.

"HEY WATCH OUT!" a bystander screamed.

Harry turned around just in time to see a large eighteen wheeler start spinning out of control. The trailer began moving faster than the cabin and now took up all four lanes of traffic, smashing into smaller cars as it headed towards Harry and a prone Ginny. Harry began crawling faster towards Ginny, desperate to get to her before she got trapped under a tire.

"GINNY! GINNY!" he choked out through the blood and snow. He finally got to her and realized that she wasn't actually unconscious.

It wasn't even her…

One of the Death Eater's who had been following them had gotten too close and had also been hit by the truck causing her mask to come off, revealing a mess of red hair and a damaged face.

The woman looked up at him with hatred in her blazing eyes and she pointed a bloody wand at him.

"_Die Harry Potter!"_ she screamed. "_Avada-_"

Harry punched her in the face, effectively knocking the woman out before he began looking around again for the real Ginny…

She had to be alive…

She couldn't have-

"HARRY!"

His head whirled around to see Ginny dragging herself out from under a car, blood running down her face along with tears as she tried to get to him. The pain in her eyes was evident and he could tell that her injuries were much worse than his own.

But she was alive…

That was what mattered the most…

"Ginny stay there!" he managed before turning and coughing up more blood. He swayed as his head became very light before he managed to gain control again and turned back to Ginny. "I'm coming over!"

Ginny was about to reply when something caught her eyes and they grew bigger before she turned back to Harry.

"HARRY WATCH OUT!"

The eighteen-wheeler had reached him and he pulled himself into the fetus position just as it passed over him. A car trapped by the truck caught him by his arm and began dragging him further down the street as the large truck continued to slide on the ice.

"HARRY! HARRY!" Ginny screamed, pulling herself up to her feet when she finally got out from under the car. "HARRY!"

"LOOK!"

Everyone on the street turned to see five hooded figures running down the street towards the wreckage and pileups that were starting to destroy the road. Ginny tried to move but collapsed to the ground, her shattered leg folding beneath her. She began dragging herself painfully away from the approaching Death Eaters while on lookers began helping people out of crashed cars. Flashing lights of ambulances, police cars and curses were lighting up the area, causing more pandemonium.

"RUN!" someone screamed when the Death Eaters actually struck a muggle, killing her instantly.

"HEY GIRL! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

A police car, which had finally made it to the scene, had been blasted into the air by a Death Eater and was now hurling towards Ginny like a fireball.

"OH MY GOD!" a woman nearby screamed while Ginny curled herself up into a ball.

There was a nightmarish slicing and wrenching sound as two tons of flaming metal crashed on top of Ginny.

However, unknown to the screaming people on the sidewalk, Ginny had not been harmed in the fray.

"Viorel!" she cried, looking up into the black eyes of the vampire as he shielded Ginny from the flames that licked at her.

He quickly hacked at the burning metal, creating a hole for her to squeeze through, using his _two_ arms to do it. He grabbed Ginny around the waist and pushed her carefully through the hole before pulling himself out of the fireball. He then grabbed Ginny and picked her up into his arms, carrying her away from the Death Eaters, who were a bit stunned by the turn of events.

It was then that Ginny realized that someone was missing and she looked around frantically for the runaway truck that had dragged Harry down the street. She spotted it a block away, trapped by two crashed cars.

"HARRY!" she began screaming hysterically. "HARRY!"

Viorel shook his head.

"Harry has been taken, we must go," he said.

Ginny's eyes widened and she began thrashing around to get out of the vice-like grip of the vampire.

"What do you mean, 'HE'S BEEN TAKEN'?!" she shrieked. "Put me down! HARRY! HARRY!"

Viorel crushed her to his chest, preventing her from moving and hurting herself any further as he reached an alley where Neville and Ron were waiting, eyes widening when they caught sight of Ginny's bleeding body.

"We must go now. Here, take her," Viorel ordered, placing Ginny carefully in Ron's arms. Ron held her tightly before disapparating with her. Neville and Viorel disappeared moments later.

**A/N: I'M BACK! I know! It's been a long break between updates, but I am back again! I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas (For those of you who celebrate Christmas). I had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends and got everything I wanted, so that was a bonus. :-) I hope you guys haven't gotten to angsty while I've been gone. I hope you enjoyed whatever break you got! Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well. I will probably update sometime tomorrow, because I feel so guilty, so please review before then!**

**Fyre of the Funeral Pyre:** This was pretty intense as well. I hope this was worth the wait!

**Blue Leah:** Was it too long? Well, I need the break so I hope you like what I've done during that break! :-)

**nextbestthing:** I _loved_ Ginny's escape. What I love about this chapter is that Harry sort of interupts her escape with his own escapade. It's a bit funny if you think about the timing. If she had not stopped to help Viorel and kept running through the woods, they would have missed each other. Now _that_ would have been funny.

**rhr4eva:** My focus on this chapter was more on Harry and Ginny in this chapter, but you'll find out more about what's going on with Ron in the next one. He is pushing himself a bit too much isn't he? Hmm... (Just kidding, I've already written to chapter 33, so you don't have to worry about giving me evil ideas about how to deal with my characters. :-) Oh! Ginny and the Death Eater, favorite scene from that chapter.

**mgmve2008:** Funny you mention Harry running into them, because that's what I had written! She has become quite the heroine. As for Viorel, I think he was a bit too busy with the Manic to turn on her, but now that he has her back, who knows what will happen? (That's nothing ominous. Just a statement.

**jenny:** Viorel and a Manic had been captured and they were studying Viorel or something like that. The Manic was just there to make sure that Viorel didn't attack.

**Mae Silverpaws:** I had a very good rest and an even better Holiday, thank you! I hope you had the same! As for Ginny, I don't like the Ginny's who are like 'Oh I'm Harry Potter's girlfriend, I'm going to get rescued any minute so I might as well just sit here and let whatever happen to me happen to me. I _love_ Viorel and how cool he is around Ginny. You'll actually see a bit more of that in the later chapters and how close they actually are. It's very interesting.

**Chapter Tease:**

_"Ron, what's going on?" she asked. "Why are you acting this way?"_

_Ron shook his head. _

_"I'm not acting anyway," he muttered. "I'm just tired…" _

_Curtis frowned. _

_"Hey, you're bleeding…"_

_Hermione gasped as Ron looked down at his stomach, where his wound had reopened. He stared at it for a second as if he had just discovered something interesting._

_"Oh…" he rasped before collapsing. _

_"RON!"_


	31. Insecurities

_There is nobody who is not dangerous for someone._ **-Marquise De Sévigné**

* * *

The moment Ginny arrived at Grimmald Place, she started making a lot of noise and attracting a lot of attention, not that she cared at the moment. She was more concerned about the ominous statement Viorel had just made before they had apparated.

"WHERE IS HARRY?!" she screamed, shoving herself out of her brother's arms and falling to the ground painfully. She let out a yelp before she began shoving away the hands that tried to pick her up, struggling to one foot and looking around frantically. "HARRY!"

"Ginny, you need to calm down, or you're going to hurt yourself," Neville snapped, trying to grab her arm.

"LET GO OF ME!" she screamed. "Where's Harry? Where is he?!"

"Ginny?!"

She whirled around and saw Harry leaning against the wall in the foyer where Remus and Bill had apparated him to. Ignoring the pain, she dragged herself surprisingly fast over to where he was and launched herself at him, sending the both of them crashing to the ground as she started sobbing into his chest hysterically, ignoring the pain that was shooting through her legs and spine.

"I'm fine, Ginny," Harry gasped out, holding onto her as tightly as he could. "I'm fine! I'm oka- OW! Ginny, what the hell!? OW! GERROFF!"

Ginny sobs had instantly changed into curses as she started hitting him with all her might.

"You stupid prick!" she yelled. "How could you do something so idiotic?! WHY THE _HELL_ WERE YOU IN THE FORBIDDEN FOREST?!"

"Ginny, stop it! Get off!" Harry protested, trying to push her off of him as she continued her onslaught on his already traumatized body. "Ginny! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"YOU NEARLY GOT YOURSELF KILLED BECAUSE OF ME! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" she shrieked. "I'M NOT THAT IMPORTANT!"

Suddenly it became all too clear as to why Ginny was getting all hysterical over her unorthodox rescue.

Remus and Bill tried to pull her off, but, for a girl who had just crashed into a pile of suitcases and then been struck by a truck into four lanes of speeding traffic, she was extremely strong and very angry. She struck out at them, catching her brother in the eye and Remus in the leg before lunging at Harry again, hitting him repeatedly as he tried to get away from her.

Since the foyer was so narrow, it was impossible for the others to come to Harry's rescue without risking injuring both of them more by apparating.

"GINNY GET OFF OF HIM!" Mrs. Weasley screamed, but Ginny was so incensed by Harry's brash actions that she wasn't listening.

"I'M NOT WORTH KILLING YOURSELF OVER, YOU MORONIC GIT!"

"I was trying to save you!" Harry defended, grabbing Ginny's fists before they struck him any more. "You _are_ worth dying for, Ginny!"

This answer only made Ginny angrier.

"YOU DOLT! YOU CAN'T JUST WALTZ OVER TO HOGSMEADE AND TRY TO SAVE ME! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED! THEN WHAT?" she demanded.

"Ginny! Stop it! I didn't want Voldemort to kill you!"

"YOU ARSE! HE WAS GOING TO KILL _YOU_ BACK IN THE WOODS! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! ARE YOU CRAZY?!" she bellowed wrathfully.

She seriously looked like she wanted to kill the Boy-Who-Lived right there and then. It was easy to see that if someone did not do something quickly, she probably would kill him.

"Ginny! Ginny, look-"

Once again, Ginny's emotions surged and she grabbed his face, bringing her lips crashing to his, moving hers against his desperately as he fell back onto the floor again, shocked and confused. Everyone else just stood there, unable to comprehend what was going on with Ginny.

However, when Harry started responding to Ginny's kisses and began to pull her closer to him, Mrs. Weasley decided to end this and get the two some medical attention and perhaps a cold shower.

"OY!" she snapped. "You two are injured badly and bleeding all over the place! STOP IT! NOW!"

Harry instantly pulled away from Ginny, who let out a cry of pain when Harry's elbow struck her in the side. Suddenly the pain attacked the both of them and they were quickly taken upstairs where they could be looked at better. Many of the others went upstairs as well, leaving the foyer significantly clearer. Hermione moved around those who were left and found Ron, who was leaning against the wall, his face pale and his entire front covered in blood.

"Ron, are you okay?" she asked urgently, taking his arm in her hand. He pulled away from her, nodding.

"I'm fine, 'Mione," he muttered. "It's Ginny's blood not mine."

Hermione could see the exhaustion in his placid face and it worried her to no end. She tried to take his arm again, but for some reason he would not let her touch him.

"Ron, are you hurt? If you are, you need to see a Healer," she said.

Ron shook his head painfully.

"I'm fine, Hermione," he gritted out. "Harry and Ginny need the attention more than I do. It's just a cut."

Hermione did not believe him and tried to move his arms from their place over his stomach. He didn't budge and soon they were struggling against each other until Ron shoved her away a little harder than he meant to. She grunted when she hit the wall before shooting him a look of pure annoyance.

"Ronald Weasley, what is wrong with you? You're hurt and all I'm trying to do is help!"

"I don't need help, Hermione," he hissed back before taking a shallow breath, his face getting a bit paler. He was about to say something else when a commotion upstairs stopped him. Someone screamed, there was quite a bit of swearing, there were a few flashes of light then it all quieted down again. Hermione frowned but ignored it, turning her attention back to the stubborn redhead.

"Ron-"

"What's going on?"

They turned to see Curtis standing by the kitchen door, frowning. Hermione stood straighter and was about to say something when Ron cut her off quickly and irritably.

"No there's nothing wrong, _Curtis_," he snapped. "Why don't you mind your own business?"

"Ron!" Hermione gasped, appalled by his rude behavior. "He's just trying to help. So am I!"

Ron turned his frustration and pain back on her.

"Well, I'm fine. I can wait until the Healer's done with Harry and Ginny," he hissed before moving towards the stairs.

Hermione bit her lip and tried to stop him.

"Ron, perhaps you should sit down or something. If you're hurt, you shouldn't move so much," she protested.

Ron shot her a nasty look.

"_I'm fine,_" he hissed, yanking his arm out of her grasp. "I'll be upstairs."

Curtis took a step forward.

"Hey, don't talk to her like that. She's just trying to help you out, mate."

Hermione noticed Ron tensed and had a bad feeling about what was about to happen. She knew Ron would not react well to Curtis. That was inevitable. He had always been overprotective of her. But in his current condition, she knew he was likely to say things that he would end up regretting for a _very _long time.

"I'm not your _mate_, Jackson," Ron snapped "I _don't_ need anyone's help. I'm fine! It's just a cut."

Hermione shook her head.

"That's a lot of blood to just be a cut, Ron. Just let me look at it-"

"I said piss off!" Hermione rocked back on her heels from the impact of Ron's biting words. His bright blue eyes were burning with anger and his chest was moving quickly to make up for the loss of air and blood. "Damn it, Hermione. Why can't you just take no for an answer? _I'm fine_," he hissed. "Leave. Me. Alone."

He started walking towards the stairs again.

He didn't make it any farther. He collapsed in the hallway.

"RON!"

* * *

It was three days before Ginny woke up again. When she did wake up she was greeted by the familiar and welcome sight of Luna Lovegood, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, reading a copy of the Quibbler and humming lightly to herself. The room she was in was barely lit with the fading afternoon and a bit cold, despite the blankets that were wrapped around her.

She tried to move and let out a groan when her side began to ache a little. Luna looked up at the sound and smiled.

"You're not supposed to move too much, Ginny," she said in her typical dreamlike voice. "Your bandages get tighter the more you move and you have a lot of bandages."

"Oh."

Ginny glanced around again before frowning.

"Is Harry-"

"He's in the next room. He's fine," Luna cut in. "He woke up earlier today and was making an awful fuss about you. Then Dumbledore arrived and they've been locked in there for a while."

"Oh… okay… what time is it?"

"Three fourty-five."

"Oh…"

There was another silence before something else popped into her mind.

"Viorel-"

"I'm right here," came the chilling reply. Ginny's eyes traveled along the wall until it came across an uneven lump against the darkness.

"Viorel?"

The immortal stepped out of the blackness and moved over to where she lay, his black eyes calmer than when she had last seen them.

"You're not bleeding anymore," he whispered, as if he had just read her mind.

Luna snorted as she returned to her reading.

"So there's no reason for you to attack her again, is there," she muttered.

"What?!" Ginny snapped, wincing when she tried to sit up. Viorel instantly was at her side, a hand on her back while he eased her against the backboard. She hesitantly glanced up at him before turning to Luna, who was still reading the Quibbler as if Ginny had not said a thing.

"What are you talking about?" she asked quickly.

Luna's eyes darted over at Viorel, who was watching her carefully before she looked back down at her paper.

"Viorel attacked you on the way up here," she responded nonchalantly.

"WHAT!?!"

"Ginny, it is not as bad as it sounds," Luna said, flipping the page. "He just nicked you a little before your brothers fended him off."

"Fended him off?! You tried to _kill_ me?!" she demanded, turning to Viorel. To her annoyance, the vampire shrugged.

"You were bleeding _a lot_," he said coolly, as if he had just come up with the most concrete excuse in the world.

Ginny was at a loss for words for a few seconds.

"Wha… well then… um… you…" she stuttered before frowning. "Then why don't you make a meal out of me every time I cut myself!"

Viorel smirked.

"We tried that once and Harry got injured trying to protect you… things haven't changed much," he commented.

Ginny shifted a little before wincing.

"I had nothing to do with Harry's suicide run yesterday," she snapped irritably. "If I had a say in it, I would have made him stay here, but apparently _they_ can't keep a close eye on him," she added, glancing over at Luna, who finally put down the Quibbler.

"_I_ had nothing to do with Harry running away," Luna replied calmly. "_You_ did. As for Viorel attacking you, that's his problem."

Viorel stiffened a little but said nothing as he moved over to the corner again, blending in with his surroundings. Luna watched him disappear before she turned to Ginny.

"Ron's in the hospital," she whispered.

Ginny sat a bit straighter in bed before regretting it and grasping her side.

"What? Why?"

Luna shrugged.

"He pushed himself too hard," she replied. "He's been working ever since you and Hermione disappeared. He collapsed three days ago from a curse. They don't know what hit him, but he's doing better."

Ginny bit her lip.

"How's Hermione?"

Luna finally smiled.

"Fine, if by fine you mean pulling her hair out and worrying herself sick," she replied lightly.

Ginny shook her head.

"Everything's falling apart isn't it… how are the others?"

It was then that Luna paled significantly. She glanced over at the corner where she knew Viorel was still standing before she replied.

"Angelina was killed a few days ago," she whispered sadly.

Ginny froze and her eyes stung as she blinked rapidly to hold back the tears.

"No… Fred…"

Luna bit her lip and leaned forward, taking Ginny's hand in hers.

"A lot has happened since we came back to England," she whispered.

Ginny looked up.

"Tell me everything…"

* * *

It was quiet in the hospital room as Hermione sat in the chair near Ron's bedside, reading Hogwarts, A History. Occasionally she would glance up at him and stare at him for a moment before she returned to her book, taking deep breaths.

Ron's parents had gone in and out since he had arrived, talking with Healers and such, but they had allowed her to stay with him. Others had stopped by as well, but they were unable to stay long with Ron, who had been unconscious for the past three days. He had been very responsive to the treatment given to him and the Healer said that he would be out in a couple of days.

Hermione looked up from her book when she heard a squeak and smiled when she saw Darcy sitting on the nearby coffee table, nibbling on some treats Mrs. Weasley had brought in earlier. The little skyfox was watching Hermione carefully and she patted her lap, coaxing him over. The thing flapped its wings and flew over to her, nestling down in her lap as she went back to reading.

A knock at the door once again brought her out of her reading and she glanced over at the door.

"Come in," she said.

The door opened and Curtis stepped in, glancing over to the bed before he looked at Hermione.

"Hey," he whispered, holding up a paper bag. "I thought you might be hungry."

Hermione frowned.

"How'd you get that?"

Curtis walked over and sat down in the chair next to hers.

"One of his brothers, Charlie I think, gave me some money and told me where the lunchroom was," he said quietly, setting the bag down on the small table. He pulled out a chip and held it out to Darcy, who snatched it and eagerly gobbled it down. "I knew you've been here since this morning, so I figured I'd bring you some lunch."

Hermione felt her heart flutter at his kindness and she smiled at him.

"Thank you, Curtis," she whispered as she watched him pull out two sandwiches and some chips, laying them out on the table before he pulled out some drinks. Hermione smiled as he drank the butterbeer and made a face.

"What is this?" he asked.

Hermione picked up her own bottle and clinked it against his.

"It's an acquired taste," she replied, taking a swig before she put down both the book and the bottle and picked up her sandwich. "How are you?"

Curtis snorted, inclining his head towards Ron.

"I should be asking you the same question," he responded.

Hermione glanced over at Ron's prone form before she shrugged and took a bite out of her sandwich. She was silent for a moment until she swallowed and then she turned to Curtis.

"I've been better."

Curtis smiled.

"I'm sure," he replied. "But you have to be glad that he's going to get better."

Hermione shifted a little.

"Of course I am," she said quickly. "It's just…"

"_Just?_"

Her cheeks grew red and she avoided looking at him.

"I think Ron's jealous of you," she muttered.

"What?"

She turned to face him.

"I said I think Ron's-"

Curtis shook his head.

"No, I heard that," he interrupted. "I just don't understand why? I mean, you're his girlfriend right?"

Hermione's cheeks now resembled tomatoes as she once again began avoiding his gaze, looking down at her sandwich, which Darcy had started nibbling on. She tore off a piece and placed it on the table. She then picked up some chips and placed them with the piece of sandwich before she picked Darcy up and put him on the table with the food.

"Ron and I aren't official or anything, Curtis," she murmured. "And to be quite honest, it's perfectly understandable that he would be jealous…"

Curtis frowned.

"I don't understand. It's not like you and I…" he trailed off, not wanting to say the rest. If it was possible, Hermione blushed even more.

"No, it's not _that_, Curtis," she said. "It's just… Ron has _always_ been overprotective of me. Besides Harry, he's never liked _any_ boy that's been close to me…"

"But he knows you and I-"

"Curtis," Hermione cut in before he went any further. "Ron's insecure."

There was a brief silence before Curtis looked over at Ron.

"Um… you have a high opinion of him…"

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Curtis, at our school, Harry's the most popular boy," she said before biting her lip. "Well, to be honest, he's famous _everywhere_… and me… well, I'm-"

"Too smart?" Curtis offered.

She blushed but nodded nonetheless.

"I suppose," she muttered before looking over at Ron. "Ron… he has five older brothers and one little sister. All of his brothers have had… _titles_ and his sister by default is just special…" She took a deep breath, trying not to become too emotional. "I suppose from the beginning, Ron's had so much pressure on him… his brothers, his sister, his best friend… me…"

"What does this have to do with him being jealous of me?" Curtis asked.

Hermione sighed.

"In my fourth year, there was a Yule Ball… and I got asked by a famous Quiddich player… oh, Quiddich is a sport. It's kind of like football, except on brooms," she added after seeing the confused look on his face. "Anyway… I think he believed it to be one more thing that he could never achieve… one more thing that made him… _less worthy_… ever since then, when it comes to boys, things between Ron and I have been… _strained_…"

"But what-"

Hermione turned to him.

"You're no Victor Krum, Curtis, but you _are_ special… to me… and Ron's detecting that and it's making him uncomfortable… he thinks you might be better than him… like everyone else…" she finished sadly.

Curtis was amazed.

"You don't really think that do you? I'm not better-"

"You may not be a wizard, but you have been my best friend before any of this started, Curtis," Hermione snapped. "He _knows_ that…"

"He doesn't trust you?"

Hermione let out a sigh of frustration and put down her sandwich.

"This has nothing to do with _me_, Curtis. This has everything to do with _him_," she whispered, pointing to Ron. "He doesn't think he's _good_ enough! To be honest, out of the Harry, him and I, he's the best of us! He's smart… he's just lazy and doesn't try… he's loyal, he's funny! He's willing to do _anything_ to protect a friend… he's the real hero…" Here Hermione's voice started to crack and tears came to her brown eyes as she struggled to keep it together. "But… but he doesn't believe any of that! _That's_ why he's jealous of you. He sees what he is in you, but he can't see it in himself… so he's jealous…"

Curtis shook his head.

"Hermione, that doesn't make sense," he said. "That's just a bunch of crap you made up just so you wouldn't have to say that he doesn't _trust_ you."

"Of course he trusts me," she objected immediately. "I'm just saying that he doesn't trust himself-"

"Oh come off it, Hermione," Curtis snorted. "You are beautiful, smart, quick thinking and arguably the most amazing person I have ever met. And you _love_ him! The only reason he hates me is because he thinks you don't like him-"

"I do _not_ believe that he-"

"_Oh bloody hell!_ Will you two shut the hell up?!"

Hermione and Curtis looked over to the bed to see Ron opening his eyes, groaning. He pulled himself up into a sitting position, coughing a little. Hermione stood up and walked over to his side, taking his hand in hers.

"Ron, are you okay? I was really worried about-"

Ron pulled his hand away from her, looking her up and down before his eyes fell on Curtis.

"What are you doing here?" he asked rudely.

Hermione's eyes widened.

"Ron! You just woke up and all you can do is-"

Ron's irritated blue eyes flashed to her.

"I didn't _just_ wake up, Hermione," he snapped.

There was a momentary silence before Curtis stood up slowly, glancing over at Hermione as he moved towards the door.

"Um… I think I should go-"

Ron actually pushed the sheets away from him and staggered out of bed, giving Hermione a nasty look when she tried to help him.

"No, I think you two should stay and perhaps I should go and give you two some more time to talk about me," he snapped, moving towards the door.

"Ron, you're not thinking properly. You're still recovering and you need to get back into bed-"

"Shut up, Hermione!"

"Hey!" Curtis yelled, moving between Ron and Hermione, who looked like she was about to burst into tears. "She's trying to help. Look, just get back in bed and I'll go get a doctor."

Ron shook his head, stepping towards the door.

"Right," he muttered. "If I don't trust her, why the hell should I trust you?"

"Ron!" Hermione yelled. "That's not fair! I never said-"

"Yeah, I heard what you said, Hermione and at the moment, I really don't care," Ron muttered before he walked out.

Hermione felt her blood boil and she marched to the door and stormed into the hallway.

"RONALD WEASLEY! YOU STUBBORN PRICK!" she screamed as she watched him limp down the hall. "I love you! I told you that in the Bypass! Why the hell don't you trust me?!"

Ron turned around, glaring at her.

"Who said I don't trust you? _Him_?" Ron asked, pointing to Curtis, who had also stepped out into the hall. "You believe him?"

Hermione let out a groan.

"Oh come on, Ron! You can't turn everything I say against me!" she snapped and Ron rolled his eyes, turning to walk away. "Ron, look at me!"

Ron stopped and leaned against the wall, taking deep, ragged breaths. Hermione bit her lip and moved to get closer but he turned and stopped her with a look.

"Ron, what's going on?" she asked. "Why are you acting this way?"

Ron shook his head.

"I'm not acting anyway," he muttered. "I'm just tired…"

Curtis frowned.

"Hey, you're bleeding…"

Hermione gasped as Ron looked down at his stomach, where his wound had reopened. He stared at it for a second as if he had just discovered something interesting.

"Oh…" he rasped before collapsing.

"RON!"

* * *

Ginny looked away from the window when her mother came in. Biting her lip, she watched her mother move around the room, not noticing that her daughter was actually awake.

It had been months since she had seen her mother… and as far as she was concerned, it had been way too long.

"Mum," she whispered weakly, attracting her mother's attention.

Mrs. Weasley looked up from what she was doing and immediately her eyes filled with tears.

"Oh Ginny!" she gasped, moving quickly to the bed Ginny was lying down in and gathering her up into her arms. "Oh Ginny, I was so worried! You were in so much pain!"

Ginny let out a sob and clutched her mother tightly.

"Mum, I'm so sorry," she cried. "I knew it would hurt, but I'm so sorry!"

"Honey, it's okay! I'm just glad you're alive and safe," her mother sobbed as she pulled away from Ginny and pushing some fiery locks out of her red and puffy face. "Oh I've missed you so much!"

Ginny wiped the eyes out of her eyes, trying to smile.

"I missed you too," she whispered. "I'm sorry I made you believe I was dead… I just… I wanted to help Harry and there was no other way to get out and-"

Mrs. Weasley shook her head, stopping Ginny before she could continue.

"It's okay… When they told us that you were alive, I was so relieved. The only thing I cared about was seeing you again… I'm so glad Harry got to you before Voldemort did," she whispered.

Ginny faltered.

"Harry didn't exactly find me… we ran into each other as I was escaping," she corrected. "I really don't know what Harry was doing there…"

Mrs. Weasley shook her head.

"Well, let's not worry about that right now," she said, smoothing out Ginny's hair. "I just want you better."

Ginny nodded, leaning back in bed and watching as her mother moved around the bedroom. It was then that they realized that they had had an audience. Viorel, who had been in the corner the entire time, moved just the slightest to get out of Mrs. Weasley's way and she let out a startled shriek.

Ginny sat up, eyes wide, and watched her mother stagger back in shock as the vampire watched her with mild interest.

"Viorel? What are you doing here? I thought you went out?" she asked.

Viorel eyed Mrs. Weasley as the redheaded matriarch tried to calm down.

"I never left."

Mrs. Weasley suddenly stood up straighter and focused her attention on the vampire.

"You've been there the entire time?" she demanded.

"I'm keeping an eye on Ginerva."

"I could do that."

Viorel raised an eyebrow.

"Apparently you can't, or she would not have disappeared during the summer," he commented casually, causing Mrs. Weasley to go rigid.

"Why you son of a-"

"Molly!"

Mrs. Weasley and Ginny turned to look at the door while Viorel moved back towards his favorite corner in the room, blending in perfectly with the dark background as Mr. Weasley appeared. The look on his face was one of pain, but he smiled when he caught sight of Ginny.

"Hey pumpkin! You're awake!" he greeted, coming over and giving her a great big hug. Ginny grinned and hugged him back before he turned to his wife. "Fred's downstairs… he needs to talk to us… about Angelina…"

Ginny sat ups straighter.

"How is he?" she asked quietly.

Mrs. Weasley's face was drained of color at the thought of her heartbroken son. She stood up and stood by her husband.

"We'll be back later, Ginny," she whispered, giving her daughter a quick kiss on the brow before she glanced over at the corner where she knew Viorel was still standing. There was something about the vampire that unnerved the mother, especially after his attack when Ginny had been taken up to her room. However, she was not about to remove the one comfort that Ginny had at the moment, even if he was lethal. She had been told by the others that Viorel, more than the other vampires, had been very close, despite Harry's unusual relationship with Ginny and Viorel's passionate and everlasting love for Roxanne. She had also been told about Ginny's unusual blood problem, which made Mrs. Weasley hesitant to leave her alone with the vampire.

Mr. Weasley noticed this and placed a hand on his wife's shoulder.

"Molly, we should go and see what he needs," he murmured. "Ginny will be fine with him."

Mrs. Weasley bit her lip and nodded.

"Okay."

Ginny watched her parents leave sadly before she turned to Viorel, whose eyes were on the door. He continued to watch the door until he was satisfied with whatever he was waiting for and turned to Ginny.

"You're parents have gone through a lot since you left England," he murmured.

She nodded.

"Yes, they have," she muttered. "Yes they have…"

**A/N: Yes, yes, I know I said I'd update earlier, but then my family wanted to watch ****The Incredible Hulk**** and then after that we watched ****House**** and I forgot. I had some good family time, so I'm sorry I forgot. But here we are!**

**nextbestthing: **Ginny found out about Stephanie from Chapter 29, remember. She overheard it from the Death Eater guards.

**choco1213:** Not too much action in this chapter, but I hope you liked it anyway!

**jenny:** Thank you so much for the compliment. I appreciate it. At first, I wasn't going to do the whole, Ginny meeting Harry in the woods thing, but then I was like... hey... Harry's missing. Where wood he honestly go if he was either looking for Ginny or looking for Voldemort? I thought it was a bit funny. I'm glad you liked it so much!

**mgmve2008:** I'm starting to like Viorel as a character because of his restraint around Ginny... _though_, as is seen in this chapter, we must still remember that he is still a vampire. He's really cool. Ron is starting to get really jealous, but we are yet to uncover the real reasons why. I did have a great Christmas, thank you! I hope you had one too and I wish you a Happy New Year!

**ronandmion4ever:** It was sort of aimed at you, but I'm glad you reviewed. As for Viorel, my focus on him will be his friendship with Ginny. I don't think I could ever do anything romantic between them. He's a wonderful person who obviously loves her dearly, but I think that's as far as I'm going to take it. The scenes with Harry and Ginny, especially against Voldemort, were my favorite! As for Ron and Curtis, there will be more of that in oncoming chapters. Well, I'm glad you reviewed because normally _somebody_ *evil glare in yourdirection* waits until like three or four chapters later and I like reading your reviews. Their so funny! :-)

**x-x-xCAROLANNEx-x-x:** This one was not as intense, but I hope it was just as good as the last one!

**Blue Leah:** Glad you thought so! Thanks for the review and hope to hear from you again!

**Fyre of the Funeral Pyre:** I'm glad you waited!

**OzDust:** Oh, you're going to be seeing a lot more of Harry later on. Especially after Ginny's little outburst at the beginning.

**rhr4eva:** I don't think they had their wands at the end. Harry had his wand in the bathroom, but after they were struck by the truck, I think he might have lost it or just forgot about it in all of the commotion. He was probably more concerned about Ginny that he completely forgot about the wand. What did I get for Christmas? I got a couple of books, a iHome and the Ironman DVD. Twas very cool! I'm glad you had a great Christmas and I hope you have a wonderful New Year!

**tamara72:** I guess when you said you can't wait for Ron and Hermione to be together again, you didn't mean that they'd start yelling at each other. :-)

**Chapter Tease:**

_"That's exactly what I'm talking about… you told me this would happen, but I didn't want to listen to you because I didn't know you were serious about this!"_

_That's when Harry got lost. _

_"Wait, what?" When Ginny did not reply, he stood up as well and approached her, his eyes narrowing. "You didn't think I was serious about this?"_

_Ginny bit her lip. _

_"That's not what I meant, Harry," she whispered._

_"Then what did you mean?" he asked incredulously. _

_She reached out and took his arm. _

_"Harry…" she started before faltering. How could she say what was going on in her mind?_


	32. False Assumptions

**HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! **

**HUGS AND KISSES TO EVERYONE!**

**Can you believe that we made it this far?!**

**A/N: Okay, a little sidetracking here, but can you guys **_**please**_** tell me if you read the quotations I give you in front of every chapter, because if you don't then I'm going to stop putting them up. They take a long time to find, believe it or not, because they have to be the right one for the chapter. (Or at least I think they're the right one for the chapter). Please tell me if you read them, because if you don't, I'd prefer not to waste my time. Thank you!**

**Here's your quotation!**

_Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't_. **-Erica Jong**

* * *

"Vi," Ginny called out. She knew he was in her room. She could feel it. But the room was so dark that it was impossible to differentiate between what was inanimate and what was immortal.

"Yes," came the emotionless response.

For a moment, Ginny was hesitant to talk, but then she saw him emerge from the shadows near the closet and move silently over to her. She bit her lips and pointed to his arm.

"How did you get your arm back?" she asked.

Viorel glanced down at his newly replaced arm and shrugged.

"I took it from the Manic," he replied chillingly as he sat down on the bed, his hands in his lap and his back perfectly straight. She could tell he wasn't breathing.

"The Manic? How did you-"

"I ripped it from his body and attached it to my shoulder using the snow," he cut in, causing her to turn completely pale at his answer. He noticed this immediately and stood up, moving to the other side of the room and disappearing from her sight.

"You… you _ripped_ it from him and just attached it to yourself?" Ginny repeated weakly.

"Yes."

"Using snow?"

"Yes."

"Oh…"

A strange noise escaped from where he had disappeared.

"The only way for a vampire to gain back an appendage that has been to remove that appendage from another vampire," he explained. "That Manic removed and _digested_ my arm so I removed his. He won't need it anymore."

Ginny felt sick.

"You killed him?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"I'd prefer not to tell you," Viorel murmured chillingly.

Ginny shivered at the thought, but decided not to pursue the topic.

"Okay…" she muttered, taking a deep breath. "So… after you… _killed him_… you took his _arm_?"

"Yes."

"Oh… _that_ makes sense," she muttered before frowning. "Wait… that thing had claws and his arms were… _bigger_ than yours… how-"

"When we take the appendage, that appendage immediately begins to take the shape of us and not its previous owner. It takes about twenty minutes."

"Oh… okay…" she whispered before falling into an uncomfortable silence. She still felt a little sick over the thought of Viorel tearing an arm from another vampire, even if it was a Manic. It was also a bit unnerving that she could hear him and not see him at all. The vampires hardly came over at night when they had been in Transylvania, so she never had to worry about them popping up out of the dark, but now that he was in her room, it sent a cold feeling down her neck…

Suddenly a thought popped in her head.

"Where's Roxanne?"

It was as if the room had become colder at the question and she was unsure of whether or not it was a good thing.

"I have not seen her yet… she does not know I'm here."

"Oh…"

"Is that it?"

"Is that it what?"

"Is that all of your questions? I know something is on your mind," he whispered. "You're heart rate has slowed and more blood is going to your brain… What is it?"

Ginny shifted before she sighed.

"It's Harry…"

"What is it?"

Ginny ran a hand through her hair and looked around the room.

"He's… he's _so_ willing to sacrifice himself for me," she murmured. "I… I don't want him to… I don't want him to risk himself for me…"

"You find something wrong with his behavior?"

"Yes. He's being an idiot," she snapped. "He wasn't thinking properly… he went up against Voldemort and he wasn't ready and he could have died because of me…"

She heard something move on the other side of the room. She knew he was trying to tell her where he was.

"Many would kill to have someone do something like that," she heard him say. "It was a very brave thing."

Ginny shifted in her bed.

"Some like to confuse bravery with stupidity," she muttered. "He shouldn't have come."

There was a very long silence which led Ginny to believe that Viorel had finally left her room. Biting her lip, she sat back in her bed and tried to see through the darkness but her weak eyes could not pick up anything. After a few minutes she gave up and looked over to the window, where faint rays of moonlight came through the shades.

"Are you saying all of this because you wish to have escaped yourself, Ginerva?"

She jerked at the chilling voice that was so close to her. She turned to see him standing by the bed, his head tilted to the side as if trying to understand her. His eyes burned momentarily at her erratic heart beats, but they calmed when she managed to slow her heart down.

She shook her head, eyeing him carefully.

"No I'm not saying it because of that," she snapped. "I'm saying it because it's true. Harry should not have come for me-"

"If Harry had not come for you and I had not been able to get to you in time, what do you think would have happened to you?" he asked calmly. "What do you think Voldemort would have done to you? I would not have been able to help you, Ginerva and he would have hurt you."

Ginny shook her head, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging her legs tightly.

"Harry is our only chance of stopping this, Vi… I don't want to be responsible for him doing something stupid and getting himself killed…"

Viorel could sense her confliction and sat down carefully on the bed, making sure not to get too close.

Though it had been three days, the amount of blood that she had lost had not been completely erased by the charms her mother and the Healer had used to clean up the room. He could still smell her and it would be a while until he was able to embrace her without fear of trying to taste her…

"Staying away from Harry will not help him now, Ginerva," he whispered. "Voldemort already knows how close you are to him."

Ginny closed her eyes.

"Yes, I know, but… I can still stay away from him… I can still avoid getting into that situation again."

"By avoiding him?"

Ginny could not stop the laugh that escaped her lips.

"Harry is like a trouble magnet… he can't _help_ but attract something bad…" she trailed off for a moment before she took a deep breath and continued. "If it had been Ron or Hermione, he would have stayed…"

"You think he does not love them?"

She shook her head quickly.

"No… I _know_ he loves them… but I also know that he wouldn't have done what he did if it had been them," she said. "They've been doing this since they were eleven… I only got included this summer because they couldn't contact Hermione… To be honest, Harry and I are too close… if he loses me…"

"He loses his best friend and the family he gained with that," Viorel finished mournfully. He caught the look Ginny shot him and he pointed to her. "Roxanne lived in Ukraine before she moved to Transylvania. She lived with her brother at a small coven… she was actually dating one of the members… and she was just like you."

Ginny frowned.

"Just like me?"

Viorel reached out and ran a finger down her neck, causing her to shiver. He pulled away quickly, his eyes moving over her skin with interest.

"_Sânge dragoste nebună_," he whispered.

"Oh… really?"

Viorel nodded.

"She was loved by the coven… but… her brother was uncomfortable with how close she and the coven member were getting, because of her condition," he whispered and she could see his eyes darken dangerously at this. "Her brother used to talk to me often about it when I came to visit."

"You visited her? I thought you were from France…" Ginny whispered.

Viorel's eyes flashed over to her and for the first time, she could see the discomfort in his perfect face.

"My visits were of a more… _embarrassing_ nature," he replied.

Ginny's eyes widened when she realized what he meant.

"You loved her… while she was human and seeing _another _vampire?" she asked with mild shock.

Viorel's eyes moved to the opposite wall as if he were looking into the past.

"Vampire human relationships are not uncommon and not hard to maintain… to love a human who is seeing a vampire is an embarrassment," he muttered darkly, a hint of disgust evident in his voice. "I tried to stay away for a while, knowing that my presence only caused more strain within the coven, especially to the member she was seeing, who was _very_ protective…"

"But?"

"World War two was starting… and I couldn't stay away from her…" he whispered before straightening. "Anyway… Roxanne and the coven member… they got way too close for comfort and her brother walked in on them… he and the member got into a fight. Of course, her brother was killed and she tried to stop them… Giovanni and Kale, the ones from the Bypass, they were with me when I came to visit… we managed to save her before they drained her…" At this point Viorel grew still. "I almost thought I had lost her…"

"But… she was human…"

Viorel nodded.

"Yes, but when she became immortal… she ran the chance of being killed because of her previous condition… New vampires, depending on their blood type _before_ they are changed, can be killed by other immortals because the scent is still strong with them…"

Ginny frowned.

"What does this have to do with Harry and I?"

Viorel stood up from the bed and moved towards the darkness.

"You're not immortal, Ginerva," he whispered. "To believe that staying away from the one you love will make things better will not make things better… they will only make the pain worse if the one you love turns up dead…"

He turned to her, his black eyes blazing.

"Tell Harry that you love him," he murmured, moving closer to her again. "War will tear him to pieces… he's going to need you to get through it."

Ginny bit her lip.

"What if something happens? What if I get caught and he comes looking for me again?"

Viorel reached out and ran a hand down her cheek, watching as she closed her eyes to his cool touch. She felt him lean in and brush his lips across her brow. She then went completely still when she felt him move down her face to her neck, his razor sharp teeth barely grazing her skin. She tried not to speed up her heart race as his mouth opened and his lips encompassed her skin, tasting her.

Finally, after sensing her tension, he spoke.

"Then let him come…" he murmured into her burning skin. He wrapped his arms around her waist and moved her so that she was lying down on the bed. Viorel then pulled the covers over her and reached out, brushing a shock of red hair out of her pale face, his eyes roaming over her carefully. "The Boy-Who-Lived cannot live forever… let him die for someone he loves…"

* * *

When Ginny woke up the next morning, she was very aware of the eyes that were on her. She opened her eyes and peered through the darkness and could make out the faint outline of Viorel, lurking in the corner. His black eyes were glittering eerily, watching her… always watching her…

She propped herself up and stared at the corner, frowning.

"Have you been there all night?" she asked softly.

Viorel approached her slowly.

"No. I stepped out for a couple of hours," he murmured.

"Oh…" was Ginny's weak response as she tried to get her bearings.

Sunlight was filtering through the windows and Viorel was avoiding the rays with ease, moving elegantly across the floor around the rays as he continued to move towards her. If it had been any other person, she would have found it amusing as to how he maneuvered around the sunlight, but at the moment it was slightly intimidating.

"Dumbledore has left."

This caught Ginny's interest.

"When?"

"Early this morning. He and Harry were talking all night."

Ginny raised herself up hopefully.

"You wouldn't _happen_ to know what they were talking about, would you?"

Viorel shook his head.

"Ozera made a promise not to intrude in the dealings of this war. I am to follow that promise. I did not eavesdrop," he answered as he sat down on her bed. He reached out and placed a cool hand to her brow. "Your fever is gone. Are you still in pain?"

She shook her head, leaning into the comfort of Viorel's cool touch.

"Not much anymore… just a slight twinge in my arm or leg, but other than that, I'm good as new," she replied quickly.

"Honey, I was just coming in to see if you wanted some break- oh!" Ginny's mother stopped upon seeing Viorel and his proximity to her daughter. Her eyes narrowed a little as Viorel immediately stood up, removing his hand from Ginny's brow, much to the young woman's displeasure. "You're still here, then…"

Viorel once again navigated his way gracefully around the rays of light, his eyes flashing to her mother as he moved to the corner of the room, where it was much darker.

"I stepped out for some dinner for a couple of hours, Mrs. Weasley," he said respectfully, though in perspective, he should not have bothered. Mrs. Weasley frowned, but said nothing as she carried the tray of food she had over to Ginny's bed and set it down on the small night table.

"Are you okay, Ginny?" she asked, placing a hand to her brow. "You still feel a little warm."

Ginny pointed to where Viorel was standing, barely visible.

"Vi says I don't have a fever anymore," she told her mother.

Mrs. Weasley glanced over at the vampire with discomfort.

"Of course, the vampire would know all about your fever… apparently he can tell us everything about you, down to your _blood type_," she gritted out rather harshly.

Viorel looked nonplussed and Ginny bit her lip.

"Luna told me about what happened and it's all right, mum… he didn't mean it…"

"Humph," was all Mrs. Weasley offered as she checked Ginny's bandages before encouraging her daughter to eat something.

Ginny grabbed a piece of toast before stopping.

"Is Harry awake?" she asked quickly.

"Yes."

The answer came from Viorel, much to Mrs. Weasley's irritation.

According to Luna, her mother and the vampires had not gotten along very well. Thus, the reason why Roxanne and the others had been forced to leave Harry's place until further notice.

Constantine had instantly obliged, especially since the number of human occupants was quickly rising in the house. Roxanne had protested a little, but after a rather heated argument with Mrs. Weasley, in which Mrs. Weasley, in no uncertain terms, told the immortal that she did not like the way she was eyeing her son, Ron, as well as her unusual interest in Luna. After a few bitter words were shared, Constantine had forced Roxanne to leave with them to the safe house the vampires had set up for themselves, leaving Harry's Grimmauld Place to a warming peace.

Ginny, ignoring the agitation in her mother's eyes, pushed the sheets away from her before swinging her feet over the edge of the bed. At the edge of her vision, she saw Viorel move a little at her sudden progress, but he did not stop her as she moved across the room. Mrs. Weasley stood up.

"Ginny, where do you think you're going?" she demanded, marching over to her daughter.

Ginny glanced behind her.

"To see Harry," she said. "I want to see him."

Mrs. Weasley shook her head.

"I don't think so, Ginny. You're still recovering from your injuries and you need some rest."

"All of her injuries have healed, Mrs. Weasley," Viorel interjected with that calm tone that annoyed the Weasley matriarch.

"She still needs to rest," the woman snapped angrily, grabbing hold of Ginny's arm and pulling her back towards the bed. "Ginny, you're not well."

"Mum, I'm fine. I just want to see Harry. Please," she begged.

"I don't think- what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Mrs. Weasley protested when Viorel grabbed Ginny away from her mother and carried her out the door.

"_Viorel_!"

Viorel went completely rigid on the staircase. Ginny could feel his grip on her tightly as he turned around to look down the stairs, his eyes landing on a breathtaking beauty with black hair and morbidly pale skin.

"Roxy!" Ginny greeted cheerfully. "Did you just get here?"

Roxanne ignored Ginny, her eyes fixed on Viorel, who also had his vision on her. The hallway got cold very quickly and Ginny had an uncomfortable feeling it wasn't because of anything bad.

"You didn't tell me you were still _undigested_," Roxanne growled after a moment's silence. "Were you going to stay here the entire time and let me believe some Manic had ingested you?"

"No," came Viorel's chilling response.

Roxanne's eyes were suddenly blazing with some sort of hellfire and it scared Ginny. She began to shift in Viorel's arms, groaning a little under his tight grip. His fingers were starting to dig into her unintentionally as he continued to stare emotionlessly at the woman at the bottom of the steps. The fact that he wasn't moving and that she was trying to move was not helping Ginny's situation. Her mother's appearance at the door also did not help.

"What's going on?" Mrs. Weasley asked before noticing Roxanne. Her eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here?"

Roxanne ignored the woman, the fire in her eyes growing as she continued to stare at Viorel. The hall and staircase was now so cold that Ginny could see the breath rising from her face and her mother's face. Frost was even forming on the picture glass and the edges of the walls. Ginny tried to move again, but Viorel's grip had not lightened and she was only hurting herself.

"Vi," she muttered. "Just let me go."

Viorel blinked before he looked down at her and immediately released his tight grip on her. He carefully set her down before he returned to staring at Roxanne.

"Go to Harry," he whispered to Ginny. "Mrs. Weasley, go somewhere else…"

Ginny had a bad feeling about the chilling tone in his voice as she began to inch up the stairs towards Harry's room. Mrs. Weasley, however, had not caught the seriousness in Viorel's voice and was not about to be told what to do by the vampire.

"Why should I-"

Apparently the two humans had taken too long for Roxanne to control herself and she launched herself up the stairs, slamming Viorel into the floor. She straddled him violently, baring pearl white fangs and snarling viciously. Viorel let out a menacing roar that literally shook the house before he threw her off of him, flipping over on all fours, his muscles rippling with eagerness.

Ginny jumped out of the way to avoid being struck by Roxanne, who immediately recovered from the throw and was on her feet, standing like a model at the landing. Except, now that morning was starting to return, she looked like a ghastly model.

Viorel let out another ripping cry before he lunged at her, teeth bared. The two rolled around a little before Viorel came out on top, his eyes blazing.

For a moment they just glared at each other before Roxanne leaned up and captured his lips in a violent kiss that left the entire area frozen as they began to snog on the landing.

"What's going on- whoa!" Harry stumbled back upon seeing the two vampires in the hall, clawing, biting and hissing at each other in a vicious and passionate fight. Surprisingly, Roxanne was more aggressive than Viorel. She was ripping at his clothes and growling warningly every time he tried to kiss her neck, which he seemed to want to do the most because he started letting out these strange guttural sounds that seemed to aggravate her more, causing her to grab his neck and wrench it to the side. Mrs. Weasley screamed and went back into Ginny's room while Ginny turned into the wall to avoid staring at the horrifying sight. Viorel fell limp to the ground and Roxanne took off up the stairs.

For a moment Viorel did not move, then his hands snaked up to his head and there was a sickening crunch as the bones fixed themselves properly. He then got up on all fours and let out a rumbling growl before his body was consumed with blackness and he then disappeared.

Ginny crawled up the stairs and stumbled over to Harry, grabbing his arm and pulling back into the room before slamming the door behind her. A bloodcurdling scream rent through the cold air causing both of them to shiver at the sound as Ginny leaned against the door, trying to ignore the brutal love fest that was probably going on upstairs.

She had a feeling that if things got any louder, her mother would go up there, whether or not it was dangerous to interrupt the vampires.

"You okay?"

She looked up to see that Harry was watching her carefully. She nodded.

"Yeah, why?"

He pointed to her face.

"You're a little pale," he pointed out.

Ginny smiled, pointing to the ceiling.

"Yes, well, after seeing _that_, I think anyone would be a bit pale… even if they were… _making love,_" she managed out, her stomach churning at the rather sickening thought.

Harry watched her for a moment before he sat down at his bed. There was another, more erotic shriek that shook the house and then another silence. He patted the spot next to him on the bed and Ginny sat down beside him, taking a deep breath as she went over in her mind everything that had been said last night between herself and Viorel.

"_You're not immortal, Ginerva," he whispered. "To believe that staying away from the one you will make things better will not make things better… they will only make the pain worse if the one you love turns up dead…"_

_He turned to her, his black eyes blazing. _

"_Tell Harry that you love him," he murmured, moving closer to her again. "War will tear him to pieces… he's going to need you to get through it."_

_Ginny bit her lip. _

"_What if something happens? What if I get caught and he comes looking for me again?"_

_Viorel reached out and ran a hand down her cheek, watching as she closed her eyes to his cool touch. She felt him lean in and brush his lips across her brow, his razor sharp teeth barely grazing her skin. _

"_Then let him come…" he murmured into her burning skin. He wrapped his arms around her waist and moved her so that she was lying down on the bed. Viorel then pulled the covers over her and reached out, brushing a shock of red hair out of her pale face, his eyes roaming over her carefully. "The Boy-Who-Lived cannot live forever… let him die for someone he loves…"_

"Harry, about what happened three days ago," she started, turning to him. She felt him grow stiff and she saw his eyes darken a little.

"Look, Ginny," he interrupted. "I know you're upset because you didn't want me to get hurt, but I wasn't about to let Voldemort just kill you."

Ginny shook her head, pulling her knees up under her and sitting on them.

"Harry, this isn't about that…" She closed her eyes and shook her head again. "Well, it _is_ about that, but it's not what you think… I'm sorry for getting mad at you…"

"Ginny-"

"You were right," she cut in. When she saw the stunned look on his face, she sighed and looked around. "You were right about this whole thing being dangerous… You warned me about what could happen… but I didn't want to listen."

Harry frowned and reached out to take her face in his hands.

"Ginny, what are you talking about?" he asked.

Ginny bit her lip and moved her hand around the space between them.

"Harry, this," she whispered. "You were right about the dangers of this… I almost got you _killed_…"

Harry shook his head.

"No you didn't…" he muttered. "Ginny, I couldn't let anything happen to you-"

She stood up suddenly, distancing herself from him.

"That's exactly what I'm talking about… you told me this would happen, but I didn't want to listen to you because I didn't know you were serious about this!"

That's when Harry got lost.

"Wait, what?" When Ginny did not reply, he stood up as well and approached her, his eyes narrowing. "You didn't think I was _serious_ about this?"

Ginny bit her lip.

"That's not what I meant, Harry," she whispered.

"Then what _did_ you mean?" he asked incredulously.

She reached out and took his arm.

"Harry…" she started before faltering. How could she say what was going on in her mind? "Harry, you… you've been unsure about this relationship from the start… every time you told me that we should… stay away from each other, I thought that maybe it was just your way of saying that you didn't want to be as close as I wanted to… but now…"

Harry watched her carefully.

"Ginny, are you okay? You're not making any sense," he said.

Ginny's eyes watered.

"You're going to come after me whether I want you to or not," she whispered. "Aren't you?"

Harry moved over to her and took her face in his hands.

"Of course I am…" he murmured. "Ginny, what's wrong with you?"

Ginny bit her lip and closed her eyes, trying to keep it together.

"Harry, the wizarding world is counting on you to live… you have to kill Voldemort," she whispered.

Harry's eyes darkened, but he remained firm.

"Then I'll kill him…"

Ginny opened her eyes to look into his beautiful green ones. For the first time since the night before they had gone to the Asylum, she saw real love in his eyes… and this time it scared her… because this time, she realized what it meant…

"Would you die for me, Harry?"

For a moment, Harry just stared at her as if she had lost her mind. Then he blinked and shook his head as if trying to clear his head.

"Um… what?"

Ginny's eyes filled with tears and she backed away from him, trying to gauge his response clearly.

"Would you die for me?"

* * *

Ron groaned as he woke up, blinking rapidly as he tried to get used to the light. He looked around the hospital room and spotted Hermione sitting in the corner, eyes on her hands, which she was wringing tightly with worry.

"Hermione?"

She looked up and her eyes widened. She got up and went over to his side immediately, taking his hand in hers.

"Ron, are you okay?" she asked. "You collapsed in the hallway and you were out for a while and your injuries were bleeding and-"

Ron placed a finger to her lips, his mind spinning at her rapid fire speech.

"Hermione, stop!" he snapped. When she calmed down, he removed his finger. "What are you doing here?"

Hermione's eyes immediately widened with shock before she took a step away from the bed.

"Ron… Ron, what's _wrong_ with you?" she asked shakily. "Why are you pushing me away?"

"I'm not pushing you-"

"Stop lying to me!" Hermione snapped. "You've been acting like a prick ever since Curtis got here! What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing, Hermione," he retorted angrily before sobering up immediately. He looked around the room a little before he looked down at his hands, his ears growing red. "Look, Hermione… I'm sorry I was mean earlier… I didn't mean to hurt you and I'm sorry if I insulted your… _friend_…"

Hermione was shell-shocked. This was not normal Ronald Weasley behavior. He never apologized…

Well…

That wasn't exactly true…

He'd been apologizing a lot lately, to be quite honest…

But this was not one of those cases in which Ron would apologize.

Hermione took a step towards the bed.

"Ron… what's wrong?" she asked one more time.

Ron would not meet her eyes.

"Nothing…"

Hermione bit her lip and reached out to take his hand. She felt him stiffen under her touch and could see his eyes cloud over with an emotion she had not seen in his eyes for a while…

Guilt…

"Ron-"

"You're awake!"

The two looked up to see Dumbledore and Moody standing there. Much to Hermione's surprise and mild irritation, Ron pulled his hand out of hers, sitting up straighter in his bed, leaving Hermione to stand there.

"I just woke up," Ron muttered.

Dumbledore noticed the tension between the two teenagers and decided that it would be best if Hermione left.

"Hermione, Alastor and I need to speak to Ron in private," he said quietly.

Hermione glanced over at Ron, who was still avoiding her gaze, before she nodded weakly and walked out.

* * *

Ginny slammed the door behind her, tears streaming down her face as she leaned against the wall. She could hear Harry approach the door and she moved up the stairs quickly to avoid seeing him again. She reached the top of the stairs and entered Bill's old room.

"Oh… sorry…"

Roxanne and Viorel looked up from each other. Roxanne pulled the sheets over both of them, her eyes dimming from their previous, violent blaze so as not to scare Ginny. Not that her eyes were the only thing that would scare Ginny. The bed they were lying in was completely destroyed, making it look more like a haphazard nest of shredded sheets and broken headboards. Both vampires had vicious scars on their bodies from their brutal romp and they looked like they had just been to war, yet the looks on their faces was one of complete content. Viorel was kissing her shoulder tenderly while Roxanne examined Ginny quickly. Her eyes darkened again as she sat up in the demolished bed when she saw the tears on Ginny's face.

"Ginerva? What happened?" she asked, her voice filling with a bit of anger for whoever had hurt her.

Ginny's face went completely red and she looked down at the ground, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt…" she trailed off. She began to back away when Roxanne let out a cat like growl.

"Stay where you are, Ginerva," she hissed before turning to Viorel and whispering something inaudible to him. He nodded, kissing her briefly on the lips before he completely disintegrated into nothingness. Roxanne pointed to a chair in the corner.

"Sit down, Ginerva," she ordered, her tone suggesting a dominance that had been reinforced only moments earlier. Ginny did as she was told and sat down, trying to avoid staring at the naked beauty. Roxanne ignored Ginny's embarrassment, leaning forward in the bed to examine her better. "What happened?"

Ginny bit her lip and shook her head.

"Nothing… nothing happened," she whispered, wiping the tears away.

Roxanne leaned forward, her black eyes catching Ginny's hesitant gaze.

"Ginerva, look at me," she growled. "Do not lie to me. If someone hurt you-"

"No one hurt me, Roxy," Ginny snapped, sniffing a little as she wrapped her arms around herself. "I'm fine."

Roxanne sat up straighter in the nest she and Viorel had created.

"I've lived for a long time, Ginerva and I know when people are lying to me," she murmured. "Stop lying and tell me the truth."

Ginny closed her eyes.

"I… I asked Harry if he'd die for me," she whispered weakly, the tears coming back to her eyes.

"And?"

Ginny let out a sob.

"He said he would…"

**A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, though it was uploaded at like 1:30 in the morning. I just got back from a party and I can't go to sleep at the moment so excuse me if I'm a little overzealous in what I do. I don't have anything else at the moment. R/R! PLEASE! (Not to sound desperate or anything. I already have a lot of reviews for this thing. I just like to hear what you people think about it). **

**PS: Nothing bad meant by the 'you people' thing. :-) **

**Jenny:** There's a lot of stuff going on, but Ron's little episodes will be explained eventually.

**Mae Silverpaws:** I hope that's not a real suggestion, because I know a bunch of people who would be willing to throttle you for provoking me into pairing up Hermione and Curtis, just because Ron's being an arse. :-)

**rhr4eva:** Hermione did say all those great things about him, which makes me think that perhaps it is not what she and Curtis believe it to be, but something else? Maybe. Or maybe it's exactly what Hermione thinks, but Ron's just too scared to admit it. Who knows? Well… I do, but… you know… I did get some cool stuff for Christmas, but I hope you had a wonderful New Years!

**mgmve2008:** To be honest, the first scene of this chapter was not supposed to be in this chapter but at the end of last chapter and that entire scene between Ginny and her mum wasn't even written in, but when I realized that Ginny and her mother had not spoken yet after being away from each other for months, I figured it was high time they talked, even if it wasn't as productive as it should have been. My favorite part of that scene though by far was the part when they realized that Viorel was in the room. I _love_ Viorel and how protective he is of Ginny. It's so sweet. As for Roxanne, I knew people would be asking about her sooner or later, so I decided to put in that *cough*little*cough* scene in there just so that people wouldn't think that she'd been lost forever. As for Snape, there's so much going on right now, it's hard to find a place to put him in between scenes, but I will try to find one and do something with him! I'll try! Hope you have a great start to 2009! Happy New Years!"

**bga1974:** I'm glad you like it so much! I will try to do something before something awful happens!

**wow60:** I think he knows that Hermione loves him, I just think that something else is bugging him.

**nextbestthing:** Ron and Hermione will _never_ be done fighting, as long as I'm writing fanfiction! Humor so far is the only thing (I think) is keeping some people from running away from this fic, because it's so intense. I hope you didn't think that I was completely ignoring your offer, I wasn't. I just came home from a party and was like, I can't sleep so I might as well update. I will make a point of sending you future chapters to look over.

**OzDust:** Oh, I love Ron too! I hope Ginny's frustrations are making sense also!

**ObsessedRHShipper:** All in good time. We'll eventually see what's going on with Ron. It would be a shame if he really did think that Hermione pitied him.

**Lola:** I can't promise you any H/G love scenes any time soon, but I'll see what I can do.

**A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. BTW, I'm not drunk in case any of you think that some of my comments are strange. I'm just tired, but I can't sleep so I'm typing. 'Tis a very strange world indeed. I hope you all had a wonderful 2008 and all the best for the year to come! Thank God we made it to 2009! HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

**First Chapter Tease of 2009!!!**

"_You can't avoid that, Harry!" she snapped. "You can't avoid death and neither can I."_

_Harry took a few steps away from her, shocked by her sudden rise in fury. _

"_Ginny, what are you-"_

"_The people you love are going to die, Harry! I am going to die, Harry," she hissed. "You can't stop that."_


	33. Till Death Do Us Part

_They tell you where you need to go  
They tell you when you need to leave.  
They tell you what you need to know  
They tell you who you need to be…_

**On Fire by Switchfoot**

* * *

It was snowing.

The proverbial winter funeral scene…

With the crying parents…

The deep poignant tone of the preacher's final words…

The black clothes being covered lightly with snowflakes…

The icy marble tombstone that forced more tears out of those present…

Angelina Johnson had a large gathering…

"The Lord is my Shepherd…"

George and Lee Jordon stood on either side of Fred as he stood a few feet away from the beautiful mahogany coffin that was decorated with brilliant white flowers that somehow stood out against the snow background they had. The young twin was just standing there, his arms hanging loosely at his side, his blue eyes filled with unshed tears as he stared helplessly at the casket. Alicia and Katie were standing near Angelina's parents while close family and friends all stood in the snow, listening to the preacher as they stared at Angelina's final resting place.

Ginny, Hermione, Harry, Bill and Charlie were standing behind the group, having come for Fred's sake and to make sure that Harry was watched while Harry's place went under some security inspections.

At a further distance and barely visible against the falling snow was what was left of Constantine's division. They were spread out, standing by large marble statues and behind trees, just as unmoving and chilling as their surroundings. They were watching Ginny carefully, not wanting to let their little mortal get out of their control any time soon. But they were also sure not to make themselves known to the funeral party, who had enough to deal with, without the presence of vampires. Luckily, they were so far away that their nightmarish day appearances did not bother anyone except the occasional Order member who were keeping an eye on Harry.

After a few minutes, the preacher was done and many began to approach the casket, placing orchids, Angelina's favorite flower, on the coffin.

Fred, however, just continued to stand there… like a lost child…

George watched Alicia and Katie move over to the coffin and place flowers on it, wiping their eyes furiously. He tried to catch Alicia's eyes, but she refused to look at him and after walking a short distance away from the funeral, she disapparated while Katie moved to stand beside Lee. She whispered something in his ear and he nodded, giving her a small kiss on the cheek before she also walked off and disapparated. Lee turned back to Fred, who still had no idea what was going on.

"She's gone," he whispered, his heart tearing at the words. "She's gone…"

George did not know how long he was going to be able to hear this. Fred didn't seem to notice his brother's pain.

"I was going to marry her… I loved her…"

"Bloody hell," George muttered as tears came to his eyes. He couldn't stand it anymore and moved away from them, placing a flower on the coffin before he quickly walked away and disapparated before Fred could continue as if his brother hadn't said a thing. Lee glanced over at Angelina's parents before he took a deep breath and turned to Fred.

"We should go," he whispered, trying to hold back his own tears.

"Go where?" Fred asked. "The shops are destroyed… Angelina's…" It was then that his voice cracked and he could go no further. His eyes grew wide and panicky and he grabbed Lee's arm tightly for support as he started to sway a little. It was as if he had just realized what had happened. "Lee… she's gone, Lee… she's gone and she's not coming back…"

Ginny, who had been watching her brother since they had arrived, let out a sob.

"Oh my God," she gasped, covering her mouth as tears began to run down her face. Never in her life had she seen Fred so… _destroyed_… so _hopeless_…

Her eyes moved briefly to Harry, who was standing between her brothers watching her just as intently as she had been watching Fred. She shook her head at him before turning away and walking off down the snow covered path that led to the funeral. Harry glanced up at Bill and Charlie, who had noticed the exchange, before he walked off after Ginny. Hermione frowned and followed after at a respectable distance. It was only then that they all noticed the Order members and the vampires, who had finally moved from their statuesque positions to follow Ginny, keeping in perfect formation as they moved at the same pace as the distraught redhead.

"Ginny," Harry whispered when he knew they were out of hearing distance from the funeral. He jogged a little to catch up with her and he grabbed her arm to slow her down. "Ginny, what did I do?"

Ginny shook her head.

She could not bring herself to talk to him. Everything in her felt guilty. It was her fault. Her fault for pushing… for telling him that it would be worse if they didn't grow closer…

"Ginny, what's wrong with you?" Harry hissed softly, glancing to his side when he noticed one of the deadly immortals move out from behind a tree to keep a better eye on Ginny. "Talk to me."

She shook her head again, shrugging him off as she headed towards the front of the graveyard where there waited the portkey they had been forced to take. Harry grabbed her roughly and pulled her back to him, forcing her to look at him.

"Ginny, _what did I do?_" he demanded desperately. He could see the pain she was going through and knew he had something to do with it… he would give anything to see it stop…

Ginny closed her eyes, trying to block him out, but the fact that he was shaking her a little and pleading with her only made it that much harder.

"Ginny-"

She pushed him away and pointed to the funeral they had just walked away from.

"You can't avoid that, Harry!" she snapped. "You can't avoid death and neither can I."

Harry took a few steps away from her, shocked by her sudden rise in fury.

"Ginny, what are you…"

She pointed to the funeral again.

"The people you love are going to die, Harry! _I am going to die_," she hissed. "You can't stop that."

"What-"

"You can't stop my death, Harry," she said. "You can't stop the deaths of those who love you. But what you can and need to stop is Voldemort."

Suddenly it dawned on Harry what she was talking about.

"Is this about what I said yesterday?" he asked disbelievingly.

Ginny looked away from him and also noticed that several vampires and even a couple of Order members had come a bit closer after seeing the physical interaction between the two. Behind Harry, she could see Hermione watching them carefully from a safe distance.

"Harry, you told me that you would die for me," she muttered hysterically. She did not know why she was panicking all of a sudden. Perhaps it was the funeral's devastating impact on her or perhaps it was just because deep inside she knew that no matter how hard she tried, he would not budge. Every nerve in her body was poised for flight, yet all she wanted to do was kiss him again.

Feel him again…

"And I meant it."

She let out a sob and looked back at him.

"Harry, you can't! You can't mean it because in the end, you have to live! You have to live to defeat Voldemort!"

"Ginny-"

"No, Harry, listen to me," Ginny snapped, glaring at him. "You can't stop what's coming! You can't stop people from dying for you… but if you die, then we lose!"

"I don't care anymore! None of it matters!" Harry shot back.

Ginny pointed at him.

"_Of course it matters_!" she shrieked. "You're the only one who can defeat Voldemort! You were chosen for this!" she screamed, completely forgetting the funeral a couple hundred meters away. "You've spent the past six and a half years fighting him because you're the Chosen one!

"But I don't want to fight him!" Harry bellowed. "I don't want to be the Chosen One!"

"But you _are_," Ginny retorted angrily, wiping furiously at tears as they continued to run down her face. "It's not fair, but your parents died so that you could live! Now you have to live to kill the man who killed your parents!"

Harry shook his head, approaching her quickly.

"My parents died for someone they loved. Why can't I?" he demanded.

Ginny stepped away from him, not wanting to get too caught up in the thrill of those words.

"Because if you die, we all die," she replied softly, tears streaming down her face. "But if you live and kill Voldemort… then some of us might die… but at least the world keeps spinning…" She closed her eyes. "People are going to die, Harry… you can't stop that…" She moved past him and pointed to the funeral. "So no… _that's_ not fair and maybe that will happen to us… but if _I'm_ the one standing on that hill and _you're_ the one in that coffin… Voldemort would have won… and I'd join you anyway…"

Now it was Harry's turn to look like a lost child.

Everything Ginny had just said seemed like nothing in comparison to losing her… but he knew she was right… if he died… she would die eventually…

But if she died…

"I don't want to lose you," he whispered.

Ginny walked over to him and took his face in her hands.

"I _will not_ be responsible for your death," she murmured.

Even as she said this, she could see the doubt in his eyes… the pain…

He shook his head and stepped away from her.

"Ginny… I can't…"

Ginny let out an all-suffering sigh and stalked off towards the entrance, too upset to talk to him anymore. His words were tearing her apart. She hated it because it seemed to be the only way he could say 'I love you', but it also seemed to be the only way he could make her guilty about it as well. If he died, it would be her fault and she knew it.

While she was not so keen on dying any time soon, she also was not interested in being the sole reason the entire wizarding world crashed and burned…

Harry was about to go after her when a hand stopped him. He turned around and saw Viorel and Roxanne standing there, shaking their heads before they moved off in Ginny's direction, along with the other vampires. Hermione caught up with Harry and took his arm in hers. Their eyes met and she shook her head slowly, knowing that Ginny needed time and space to figure things out. Harry also needed to think about some things.

She glanced behind her to see Bill and Charlie heading their way and she sighed.

"Come on, Harry…" she murmured, pulling him along. "Let's go…"

* * *

When they arrived at Harry's place, Hermione followed Harry up to his room and sat down on the bed opposite him, watching him silently as he sorted through everything that had gone on in the past few days.

Ginny had talked to her about what had happened between her and Harry before the funeral and Hermione could understand why Ginny was panicking so much. The guilt Ginny was feeling for pushing so much was building up inside of her and it only hurt more because Harry refused to accept his own fate. Hermione could also understand why Harry was so adamant about his stance. He had spent a good portion of his life alone then when he had finally realized who he was; he spent the time trying to find a reason to die…

And he had found one…

Hermione's eyes ran over his face and could see the confusion.

Was love so confusing?

_Yes, Hermione, it is_, a voice at the back of her head said. _Look at you and Ron. You love each other and you can't get anything right._

"Am I being selfish?"

Harry's weak voice brought Hermione out of her own thoughts and she looked up to see that Harry was looking straight at her.

"What?"

Harry faltered before he looked back down at his hands.

"Am I being selfish… for wanting to die for her?" he asked again.

Hermione was about to say no, but something stopped her.

_Was_ he being selfish?

If he died, the entire wizarding world would destroy itself…

And he was willing to let that happen to protect the woman he loved…

Was that selfish?

Looking back after fifty years (if they survived that long), would the history books say that Harry James Potter was a selfish man?

Or would they say he died for someone he loved?

Hermione must have taken such a long time to answer that Harry got the gist of her thought pattern.

"I guess I am…"

Hermione jerked and moved over to him, grabbing his hand quickly.

"Harry, it's not your fault that you fell in love with Ginny… it just happened," she whispered. "You can't help but want to protect her… but…"

"But?"

Hermione sat up straighter on his bed, looking him dead in the eye.

"If worse came to worse and you had to decide between saving the wizarding world and saving Ginny… which one would you honestly choose?" she asked. "And would you be able to live with that choice and more importantly… would the rest of _us_ be able to live with that choice? You didn't choose this Harry, but if you don't decide what's _really_ important soon, you're going to lose a lot more than your heart…"

* * *

Tonks waited patiently outside of Moody's office as he and Remus talked about something Tonks was not supposed to know about.

"Tonks?"

She looked up and smiled as Remus came out of Moody's office and walked towards her, falling in step with her as they headed towards the elevators.

"Am I allowed to ask what that was about?" she asked and Remus shook his head.

"It'd be best if you didn't," he whispered as they entered the elevator and went down to the Atrium.

"Is it serious?" Tonks asked quietly, glancing over to the other occupants of the elevator.

Remus gave her a look that specifically said to drop it and she drew her lips up into a thin line, her heart racing a bit faster at the thought of something serious happening in this already dark time.

Remus got off first and Tonks followed closely behind. The Ministry of Magic was noticeably more congested, with all of the attacks going on. With the resurrection of Harry Potter _and_ the more hair-raising question as to what Death Eaters were doing in London was causing a huge problem and since the Ministry had still failed to find an appropriate stand-in Minister, Dreyfus was still running the whole thing like his own private show. It was getting worse and worse and it seemed as if Voldemort was only biding his time to attack.

The pair went through the Floo system and hopped out at Remus's place. They did a quick sweep of the place before he went into his bedroom to look for a couple of things. Tonks sat down on his old couch and waited until he came back out, carrying a box.

"What's that for?" she asked.

"Harry," he muttered, placing it by the door before he sat down in the chair across from her. Tonks bit her lip at the distance between them, but decided against saying anything. He was going through enough. To bring up their own practically non-existent relationship would only make things worse. Instead she brought up something that had been bothering her for a while.

"Have they done anything about Stephanie?" she asked quietly.

Remus shook his head.

"We can't. If we tell Dreyfus, we'll have to hand over Severus and right now, he's still valuable to us _outside_ of Azkaban," he said darkly. "We know she's helping Voldemort, which will make it harder for us, especially if she's still recovering from the switch. She'll tell him whatever he needs to know just for some rest and _he's_ going to be looking for Harry."

"But she's unstable. She won't be able to see Harry whenever she wants to."

"_No_, but she can focus her attention on the Order and Harry in case something _does_ pop up," he responded.

"They could kill her by pushing her so hard," Tonks whispered before sighing. "Can't she switch back if she wants to?"

Remus shook his head.

"The only reason she switched in the first place is because she wasn't given ample time to recuperate from what the Ministry did to her. Voldemort won't do that to her if he can help it," he responded.

Tonks frowned.

"How is Severus doing?" she asked.

"Beating himself up. Dumbledore doesn't want him doing anything, so he's been forced to stay at his house until further notice," he replied.

Tonks bit her lip and decided to get off the present topic. She glanced over at the box and something suddenly hit her.

"I noticed that Dumbledore and Alastor were talking to Ron for a while in his hospital room. Do you know anything about that?" she asked calmly.

Remus eyed her for a moment before he shook his head.

"No, I don't," he replied quietly.

Tonks frowned.

"You're sure?" she asked incredulously.

"You think I'm lying?"

"Yes, I do," she said, leaning forward in her seat. "What are they doing with Ron Weasley?"

Remus knew why Tonks was getting agitated, but he wasn't about to let their personal problems get in the way of the problem at hand.

"There's nothing going on with Ron. They just wanted to see what he knew."

Tonks rolled her eyes.

"See about what? What was going on with Harry? Hermione? St. Mungos?" she asked sarcastically. "He's hardly been at Harry's home since Hermione arrived and he's been at Mungos since Harry resurfaced. So don't give me that crap about them just trying to see what he knew. I want to know about what's really going on?"

"Nymphadora-"

"Don't you Nymphadora me," she snapped. "I want to know what's going on. Are you going to send him and Harry somewhere?"

Remus stared at her for a moment before he sighed and ran his hands over his face in exhaustion.

"Tonks, it's a little more complicated than that," he whispered.

"Then what is it?"

Remus looked up to see her staring at him and he sighed again.

"You know how Ron has that Death Mark tracker on his arm?"

"Yes."

"Well, we're going to use that to track him."

Tonks frowned.

"What do you mean, track him?"

"You know exactly what I mean, Tonks," he whispered.

Tonk's eyes widened.

"You're going to get him-

Remus's fireplace suddenly lit up and Bill Weasley's head appeared.

"We've got a problem. You need to come over to Grimmauld right now," he said before he disappeared just as quickly. Tonks and Remus gazes met before they got up and disapparated.

* * *

"Vampires? _Vampires,_ Albus?" Dreyfus roared. "Did you honestly think I wouldn't find out about this?!"

This was the commotion Tonks and Remus were greeted with when they arrived at Harry's home. The official was standing in the living room with Dumbledore while Moody, McGonagall, Mr. Weasley and his sons, excluding Fred, George and Ron, were standing at the sides, watching the entire thing silently. Also to their surprise, Constantine was there, looking completely out of place in the sea of adults.

"Actually, Henry, I didn't think you would be so upset," Dumbledore replied, watching the irate man carefully. "I do not see what your problem is with them anyway. There have always been vampires living in London."

Dreyfus shook his head, pointing to Constantine.

"You are using _them_ for your own personal vendetta! You can't do that!"

Constantine walked over to Dreyfus.

"_Them?_ We are not _them_, Mr. Dreyfus," he said calmly. "_I_ am Ancient Constantine and _my_ people are not in any way interested in being _anyone's_ personal vendetta. We are here to uphold our promise for this war."

It was almost comical the way the two looked to outsiders. Constantine, with his adorable brown eyes and curly black hair along with short chubby arms made him an unassuming threat to Dreyfus's large, intimidating frame and blazing blue eyes.

"I don't care _who_ you are," Dreyfus growled before turning to Dumbledore. "What are you doing with them and where the _hell_ is Harry Potter?!"

* * *

Stephanie was shaken roughly from the comfort of sleep. She could hear Malfoy screaming at her, but she could not rush into waking up. She didn't want to feel the pain again.

"Wake up!"

Slowly she brought herself out of unconsciousness and opened her eyes, looking up to see Malfoy standing over her, glaring at her.

"Time to wake up and give us some more information," he growled.

Stephanie wanted to say no, but she had no choice in the matter. She nodded mutely and got out of bed, stretching a little before she followed him out of the small guarded room she was in. He handed her some boots and a coat, which she put on quickly, before she followed him out the house into snow covered Hogsmeade. Luckily it had stopped snowing, so it was easier to see as she walked a couple of steps behind Malfoy, to numb to do anything else.

All night, she had been bombarded by visions of Severus. She had cried in her sleep when she had seen how desperate he had been to get her back. She wanted to see him so badly.

She followed Malfoy into the Three Broomsticks and up the stairs to a private room where Voldemort was standing by the fireplace.

"Ms. Warner," he hissed.

Stephanie shivered at the sound and pulled the coat more tightly around herself. Malfoy pointed to a seat and she sat down quickly, not interested in getting hurt any time soon.

"Did you have a nice sleep?"

Stephanie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could feel him infiltrating her mind. She could feel him searching.

"No," she whispered.

Voldemort turned to her, his eyes burning.

"No, I suppose you wouldn't, dreaming about Snape all night," he responded knowingly.

Stephanie bit her lip.

"Do not enter my mind, Voldemort, or I cannot see anything else," she whispered weakly.

Voldemort's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing more to her. Instead he turned to Malfoy, who was waiting nearby for further orders.

"Forget trying to find Potter. You lost him _and _the girl and Dumbledore is not about to let them out of his sight. Focus on Mungos," he ordered.

"Mungos, sir?"

"Harry Potter has a habit of visiting Mungos and it won't be long until he or one of his little friends ends up at the hospital. Then we'll have him."

"We're going to wait to snatch Potter?"

"No. We're going to snatch someone else."

"Why not Potter?"

Voldemort's eyes flashed dangerously.

"If you can't get a fox out of the ground, you smoke it out and then kill it," he growled before sweeping out of the room.

Malfoy turned to Stephanie, who shifted in her seat. His eyes went over her face, catching the swelling of tears as she struggled to keep it together. His lip curled in disgust.

"I can't believe Snape actually screwed you," he sneered, causing her to flinch at his cold tone. "He must have been out of his mind to give up all of this for something so disgusting."

"At least he's not a coward," she whispered.

Malfoy's hand came hard and fast, nearly knocking her out of her chair. She clutched her face, tears streaming down her cheeks, but she made no noise and no attempt to retaliate. She was not allowed to attack her Overseer, no matter how evil he may have been. Suddenly her eyes got big and she let out a strangled gasp, grasping her chest as a scene filled her eyes.

Malfoy waited for a couple of minutes before she let out another wheeze and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths as she struggled again to keep it under control.

"What did you see?" he asked quickly.

Stephanie shook her head.

"I-"

"I don't care what you think is wrong and right," he snarled, grabbing her shoulders roughly. "You have to tell me what you saw, _now_!"

Stephanie let out a sob.

"Ronald Weasley! Ronald Weasley is at St. Mungos!"

Malfoy grinned.

"Wonderful."

* * *

The room was deathly quiet.

It was painful.

Especially when Ron had no way to break the silence himself. He had nothing to say because there was no one to talk to.

Well, there was Darcy. Hermione had accidentally left the little skyfox when she had left.

But he was sleeping in the corner.

Dead silent…

Hermione had not returned since he had apologized to her and he did not expect her to return any time soon. Harry, as far as he knew, was still at his house, though his mother had told him that Harry might be going to Angelina Johnson's funeral so that his house could be looked over. He was supposed to be there with Ginny and Hermione…

Letting out a groan, he shifted himself in the bed. A quick, sharp pain shot up his spine from the wound in his side. He closed his eyes and took a ragged breath before he lay back down against the pillows.

Hermione…

"_You're no Victor Krum, Curtis, but you are special… to me… and Ron's detecting that and it's making him uncomfortable… he thinks you might be better than him… like everyone else…" she finished sadly. _

_Curtis was amazed. _

"_You don't really think that do you? I'm not better-"_

"_You may not be a wizard, but you have been my best friend before any of this started, Curtis," Hermione snapped. "He knows that…"_

"_He doesn't trust you?"_

_Hermione let out a sigh of frustration and put down her sandwich. _

"_This has nothing to do with me, Curtis. This has everything to do with him," she whispered, pointing to Ron. "He doesn't think he's good enough! To be honest, out of the Harry, him and I, he's the best of us! He's smart… he's just lazy and doesn't try… he's loyal, he's funny! He's willing to do anything to protect a friend… he's the real hero…" Here Hermione's voice started to crack and tears came to her brown eyes as she struggled to keep it together. "But… but he doesn't believe any of that! That's why he's jealous of you. He sees what he is in you, but he can't see it in himself… so he's jealous…"_

_Curtis shook his head. _

"_Hermione, that doesn't make sense," he said. "That's just a bunch of crap you made up just so you wouldn't have to say that he doesn't trust you."_

Ron closed his eyes again and gripped his side in pain. His mind had run over those words fifty times since she had said them when they thought he was asleep.

But they were wrong.

The truth was, he was _not_ jealous and he _did_ trust Hermione…

The thing that was tearing him apart was the fact that he had failed her…

From the moment he had left her at Kings Cross the summer this nightmare had started, he had failed Hermione…

He had left her in the dark and even made her believe that something horrible had happened to his sister. He had allowed her to get into not only one disastrous car crash, but two. He had left her downstairs at the Burrow instead of going to get her and she had gotten hurt because he had left her on the hill to go search for Harry…

He had failed in protecting her…

And that was what was making facing her so difficult.

She deserved to know why he was being so standoffish, but he was too afraid to tell her because he was afraid she'd agree with him…

"_Ron… Ron, what's wrong with you?" she asked shakily. "Why are you pushing me away?"_

"_I'm not pushing you-"_

"_Stop lying to me!" Hermione snapped. "You've been acting like a prick ever since Curtis got here! What is wrong with you?"_

"_Nothing, Hermione," he retorted angrily before sobering up immediately. He looked around the room a little before he looked down at his hands, his ears growing red. "Look, Hermione… I'm sorry I was mean earlier… I didn't mean to hurt you and I'm sorry if I insulted your… _friend_…"_

"Ron?"

He opened his eyes quickly and looked over to the door to see Hermione standing there, looking hesitant and pale.

"Hermione?"

She bit her lip and looked behind her.

"Um… I just came in to get Darcy," she whispered meekly, moving over to the other corner and picking the skyfox up gently.

"Hermione-"

She turned to face him.

"Ron, I really don't want to talk to you right now," she said firmly before she went red and started to leave. Ron sat up straighter in his bed.

"Hermione, please! I need to talk to you," he tried desperately. If he didn't say something now, she might never come back. Hermione stopped at the door and bit her lip. When he realized she was not going to say anything, he continued. "Hermione, I'm not jealous."

_Oh I hope he didn't think I was pitying him_, she thought instantly. It had been a constant and tiring thought that had circulated her mind ever since she had left him the last time.

Hermione turned around quickly.

"Ron, I never meant for you to hear-"

"I love you."

Hermione paused, unsure of what she had just heard. The words he had spoken were causing her mind to spin as the wonderful words sent euphoric sparks down her spine. Those were words she had not intended to hear come out of his mouth and they paralyzed her as she tried to sort through their meaning. She stared at Ron for a moment, opening her mouth to speak before she shut it, confused. She took a deep breath before she moved over to his bed, her eyes watering.

"Ron…" she whispered before setting Darcy down and taking Ron's hands in hers. "Ron, I don't understand what's wrong… what's going on?"

Ron looked down at their entwined hands, his chest constricting at the sight. She had always had a way of making him feel worse about something when she was trying to make him feel better about it.

"Hermione… I never wanted you to get hurt…"

Hermione frowned.

"Ron, what are you talking about? You never hurt-"

"I left you… twice…"

Suddenly it all made sense.

Suddenly it all hurt.

Was that it? Was that what was making Ron Weasley so evasive and mean?

Of all of the things that had gone through her mind when she tried to understand Ron's cruel and uncalled-for behavior, never had it come across to her that it might have been something so _simple_.

Both times she happens to get hurt, Ron happens to be one of the main characters in that incident and then when she comes back, Curtis is the one who helps her out of it. Of course he's going to start thinking he's the reason she's been getting hurt. Of course he's going to feel guilty.

"Oh Ron," she sobbed. "None of this was your-"

Ron's icy blue eyes met hers.

"I _left_ you, Hermione," he said again. "I left you in the summer and I left you on that hill and you got hurt both times!"

"But Ron-"

"You should go," Ron cut in quickly, looking away from her again.

It hurt Hermione to see Ron torturing himself like this. She had been made aware that he had been pushing himself too much when she had woken up the morning after the rally incident, but it never really affected her as much as it did just then. It was as if her heart was pulling itself in thousands of directions, but there was nowhere to go within her constricting chest.

She wanted him to stop doing this to himself. She wanted him to believe that these things just happened…

Suddenly it hit her.

Him and Harry were not that much different after all.

They believed that everything that happened was their fault and to be honest, as of late it had been, but she could not let either of them wallow in their guilt.

If they stayed there, nothing would get done and then they really would be in trouble.

"Ron… bad things are happening everywhere," she whispered. "And sure, in hindsight we could have prevented them, but we can't stop now and go over everything that has gone wrong and could go wrong because of it!

Ron shook his head.

"If something happened to you-"

"Oh my God!" Hermione snapped, rolling her eyes furiously. This was getting ridiculous. It was as if in times of war, every single person was programmed with the same chip. "Stop it! All of you are the same! You, Harry and Ginny! All of you are thinking about what could happen and the worse that could happen! Why can't you just _let_ it happen?! Why can't you accept the fact that bad things will happen because we are at war?! Maybe it's our faults, maybe it isn't, but that doesn't matter because we have to move on!"

"Hermione-"

"YOU LEFT ME, RONALD!" she shrieked, shocking him into silence. "For months I was left alone to think that maybe I wouldn't see you again! I was forced to live with the idea that Ginny had _died_ and you two had abandoned me! But I made it through! I moved on! If you keep getting stuck in the mud, we'll never get anywhere!"

"I don't want to hurt you again!"

Hermione hadn't even realized what she had done until she saw Ron clutching his face in pain while her hand stung from the force of her sudden and rather passionate attack. Hermione's eyes widened, but before he could react to her, she leaned in and crushed her lips to his, moving them quickly against his own as she slid onto the bed.

She wanted him to forget everything that he had been thinking about everything. She wanted him to move on…

At first, Ron seemed to be uncertain about Hermione's reaction, but when she began leaning into him and inching onto his lap, he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer, deepening their kiss. Hermione could feel his heart pounding against his ribcage as she leaned into his chest, enjoying the feel of him as they embraced each other.

The two quickly grew tired of the degree of sensuality, and both of them, longing for more, began to heat things up. Ron tentatively ran his tongue gently at her full bottom lip, causing her to open her mouth to him, groaning at the sudden and pleasurable contact.

The feel of her tongue teasing his playfully and her hands weaving their way through his hair and down his neck provoked a deep moan from Ron as well as he leaned back into the bed, bringing her on top of him.

Suddenly, the room door opened and Curtis walked in, not expecting Hermione to actually be there.

"Look, I know you don't- oh!"

He stopped in his tracks after seeing Ron and Hermione on the bed. Hermione let out a strange sound and actually fell off the bed, disappearing momentarily before she reappeared, blushing violently and gasping as she rubbed the elbow she had fallen on. Ron's face was also matching his hair as he struggled to sit back up in the bed. Darcy, who had woken up after hearing Hermione fall, was literally smiling, sensing Hermione's elation from the snog and embarrassment from being seen.

Curtis, amused by Hermione's reaction, smiled a little as he waited for the two to gain their bearings. He then leaned against the wall.

"Um… you two seemed to have gotten over whatever it is that was going on," he said.

If it was possible, Hermione's face got redder as she glanced over at Ron, who was avoiding her eyes.

"Ron and I… um… I just came here to get Darcy," she muttered, embarrassment still evident in her face.

"I can see that," Curtis commented.

Ron rolled his eyes.

"Oh what do you want?" he asked irritably.

The loss of Hermione was an annoyance and Curtis wasn't helping by embarrassing her.

The young man shrugged.

"I was actually here to talk to you about Hermione, but it seems you two have worked it out," he said.

Hermione glanced over at Ron and could see that Curtis's presence was bugging him and decided that it was time for someone to leave.

"Well, if you two want to talk, I'll go," she said.

Ron was about to look over to her when a clock caught his eye. He could feel his arm burning and he knew that he needed to get the two out of the room.

"Um…" he said. "Um, actually you both should go."

Hermione bit her lip as she reached out to pick Darcy up.

"Ron, Curtis wants to talk to you, maybe it would be good if you did," she whispered so that only Ron could hear. Ron, however, didn't seem to like the idea and shook his head, pointing to the door.

"You both should go, Hermione. I'm not feeling that good," he replied. Hermione frowned.

"Ron, I thought you just said-"

"Look Hermione, this isn't about what I just said, this is about you and Curtis getting out of here!" he snapped, surprising them.

"Ron!"

"Hermione, I don't have that much time for you to start attacking me about what I'm saying. Please, just go!" he hissed.

"But-"

Curtis grabbed Hermione by the arm, shooting nasty looks over at Ron while he dragged her to the door.

"Come on, Hermione, let's go," he said. "Ron obviously hasn't gotten over whatever the hell he's wrapped up in."

"Get out!" Ron shouted. Hermione's eyes grew but Curtis already had her out the door. They didn't get too far.

"Oh my God, he's here!"

Screams erupted in the hallways as the lower levels shook from the impact of deadly curses. Hermione reached out and grabbed Curtis, yanking him back into Ron's room. She heard someone grab the door and she lunged at it. However, before she could get it locked, it exploded.

"HERMIONE!" both young men screamed as she was slammed into the far wall and slumped to the ground, unconscious. Ron stumbled out of bed and went over towards her, feeling for a pulse before he looked through the dust and debris.

"On the ground, now!" a Death Eater ordered roughly as he came into the destroyed room. Ron glanced over at Curtis, who was frozen at the foot of the bed, eyes wide with fear. "NOW!"

"Curtis, get down!" Ron snapped as he began searching for Hermione's wand in her pockets. "Curtis! Get-"

A screech interrupted Ron as Darcy flew out from under the bed, eyes blazing a scarlet red as he attacked the Death Eater. He wrapped his long tail around the person's neck and flew up at literally a break neck speed. The man flopped to the ground, dead, as Darcy let out another threatening screech to the next Death Eater who entered the room. The Death Eater fired at the small skyfox, but Darcy dodged it easily and dove at the man's stomach, sharp teeth bared.

A bloodcurdling scream ripped through the air as the man fell to the ground, writhing in unimaginable pain as Darcy tore at his insides.

"Ron…"

He looked down to see Hermione's eyes opening. He held her close as the screaming continued.

"Don't move too much, you're bleeding," he whispered. Hermione looked down at herself before the screams caught her attention. Dazed, she looked over to see Darcy's bloody attack.

"Oh my God… Darcy!" she screamed. "Darcy, stop!"

Immediately the skyfox tore away from the Death Eater and flew over to Hermione. Curtis helped both Hermione and Ron to their feet before he looked over at the writhing Death Eater.

"What's going on? What the hell _was_ that?" he demanded, pointing to Darcy, who was licking the blood off of him. Hermione clutched Ron by the arm, holding herself up carefully as the skyfox rested lightly on her shoulder.

"We need to get out of here," she gasped as they stumbled to the door.

Several people were running by, screaming and pointing as Death Eaters blazed a path of destruction through the hospital.

"There they are!"

The three turned to see a tall, wild-eyed woman staring at them, pointing with her wand.

"Bellatrix," Hermione gasped.

"GET THEM!" the insane woman shrieked, laughing as five Death Eaters charged for them.

"Run!" Ron hissed, shoving Hermione down the hall before grabbing Curtis and shoving him as well. They all stumbled into a sprint down the corridor.

"AHH!"

Curtis fell to the ground, screaming and writhing in unimaginable pain. Hermione and Ron skidded to a halt and Hermione's eyes widened when she caught sight of Bellatrix standing over the young man.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" she screamed as Ron tried to pull her away. "STOP IT!"

"Hermione, we have to- AHH!" Ron fell to the ground as well, excruciating pain surging down his spine and through ever nerve in his body. Hermione fell away from him, eyes wide as he continued to scream.

"RON!" Hermione cried. The Death Eater who was torturing Ron was laughing as well as Bellatrix pointed at Hermione. The last four Death Eaters turned on Hermione and she pushed herself away. "RON!!"

Darcy lunged at the Death Eaters, but he was still young and they were ready.

"_Crucio!"_

The poor creature crashed to the ground in a heap of debris, unconscious.

"NO!"

"STOP!"

The screaming stopped immediately and they all turned to see someone that sent shivers down all of their backs.

"Oh my God," she whispered as Voldemort walked carefully down the devastated hallway. Below they could hear continuous battling, but that all was second to the evil that was here now.

Voldemort glanced over at Ron and Curtis before turning his eyes on Hermione. A cold painful surge of fear flooded her body and she pulled herself as far away from him as possible.

"Take all of them," he growled. Bellatrix's eyes widened in horror.

"The _muggle_? Why the muggle?" she demanded in disgust.

"Are you questioning my judgement?" Voldemort asked.

Bellatrix pointed her wand at Curtis, who was lying on the ground, near unconsciousness, and then at Hermione, who was still leaning against the wall, bleeding badly and eyes solely on the evil in the hallway.

"I'd rather them _all_ die," she sneered, her blazing eyes lusting for more blood.

A smirk appeared on Voldemort's face as he kept his eyes on Hermione, who was now trying to avoid his gaze by looking at Ron, who had his eyes on her as well.

"Well, I want you to take the muggle, the mudblood _and_ mudblood lover," he said.

The woman's lip curled in disgust. Her master's words only seemed to agitate her.

"Why?" Bellatrix asked.

"Because," he said, catching Hermione's terrified eyes. "Harry's going to need to think things over and what better way to do that when you know that your best friends and an innocent _muggle_ are being tortured." It was then that he noticed the look Hermione had given to both Curtis and Ron. The smirk on his face turned quickly into a grin. "Besides, Bellatrix," he added, pointing to Hermione. "Don't you want to have a little fun, torturing the little mudblood. She seems to have a thing for _both_ boys."

To further emphasize his point, Hermione could not stop the sob that escaped her lips as the Death Eaters picked Curtis up roughly before grabbing Ron. Hermione scrambled painstakingly to her feet to stop them, but Bellatrix was not about to let that happen.

"I don't think so," she growled, grabbing her by the neck and slamming her violently against the wall. She then yanked out a knife and pressed it to Hermione's throat.

"NO!" Ron screamed, struggling against his captors. "Let her go! Let her go you-"

One of the Death Eaters slammed the butt of his wand against the back of his head, causing him to slump to the ground.

"Ron!" Hermione screamed, but the blade against her neck stopped her from moving.

Bellatrix grinned.

"You know, mudblood, I'm going to enjoy killing you," she hissed.

Voldemort rolled his eyes at Bellatrix's childish behavior.

"Bellatrix, do that later," Voldemort growled before pointing at Ron, who was starting to come out of unconsciousness. "GET HIM OUT OF HERE!"

"VOLDEMORT!"

They all turned to see Moody coming down the hallway with several other Aurors. Voldemort grinned.

"We'll see each other soon, Alastor," he hissed before disapparating.

Ron was dragged over to Curtis before they disapparated with them. One of the last Death Eaters grabbed Hermione and they disapparated.

**A/N: Hey! I know it took a while, but I hope you enjoyed it. Things are definitely going to heat up now. This is going to be fun!**

**nextbestthing:** Thanks for everything! I had a wonderful New Years'. I gave you a bit more Ron and Hermione.

**Jenny:** Oh my gosh, the same thing happened to me! I was answering reviews, I clicked save and it logged me out. I loved the whole Roxanne/Viorel thing. It was funny. Don't worry about Severus and Stephanie, we'll get to them off and on.

**rhr4eva:** Sure, Ginny's getting a bit paranoid, but she's just starting to understand why it was so dangerous to get involved with Harry and she's feeling very guilty about it. Of course she would die for him, but she doesn't want him dying for her. Hermione believes everything she says and I love that she's trying to justify Ron and help him out, even when he doesn't deserve it.

**kareem33:** I'm glad you read the quotes.

**mgmve2008:** Oh my, I love the vampires because they don't care about anyone else. They're so respectful and protective and funny, but when it comes down to it, all they care about is themselves and I love it! Were you expecting what Ron was thinking?

**Lucymucy:** It is obvious that Curtis has a thing for Hermione, but he's able to put that aside to help Hermione out with Ron. It was a bit more than just his jealousy, but I guess even after all of that, he still has to get past that jealousy.

**Mae Silverpaws:** Werewolves are more predictable. They only turn monstrous at a full moon, which you can predict. Vampires are not predictable, so she's worried that they might attack Ginny or the others. As for Bill's bed, I don't think he's going to want to use it, even if they did fix it.

**ronandmion4ever:** The whole thing with Viorel and Roxanne wasn't really supposed to be for my readers to say, 'Oh cool she's doing a love scene and it was pretty good', it was to say, these guys don't care and they're not normal. Are you saying 'I knew it!'? I still would like to know what you were thinking about, even if you were a bit off. I'm glad you liked Ginny's little break down. I would be very upset if the person I loved had to save the world but would also be willing to die for me. I'm also glad you liked the scenes between Ginny and Viorel. You're right, it isn't romantic and it definitely isn't friendly. I don't think he loves her or likes her. I think he just tolerates her and helps her because of her unique situation. If they had just met in the street and she had not had that blood infatuation thing, he probably would have said 'oh she's pretty' and then moved on. He has Roxanne (obviously) and wouldn't have bothered, but since he's attracted to Ginny's smell he feels the need to do everything possible to make her happy and calm so that he can continue to be near her and not be tempted to attack her.

**wow60:** I love Harry's protective nature also! It's so cute.

**tamara72:** Ginny may not be right, but remember, she's not really thinking clearly in her hysterical state of mind. She's still trying to get past that one fact that Harry will still die for her that she's coming up just saying things. Of course he probably would save them, but Ginny's a little paranoid at the moment. Don't worry, I wouldn't let Hermione turn to Curtis.

**A/N: I don't have a chapter tease at the moment. I haven't written anything after this, but this was a rather long chapter so don't dispair. I'll update soon. **


	34. According to Plan

_The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense._ **-Tom Clancy**

* * *

Someone knocked on Ginny's door and she looked up from the book she was reading.

"Come in," she called.

The door opened and she frowned when she saw Harry come in. Biting her lip, she marked her book and set it down, watching him carefully as he approached her slowly.

"Can I talk to you?" Harry asked.

Ginny shrugged.

"I don't mind," she muttered, but it was obvious to Harry that his presence bothered her.

He took a deep breath and sat down on the bed, his eyes going over her pale face quickly before looking down at his hands.

"Um… look… there are a lot of things that have been going on lately," he whispered. "And I'm sorry…"

Ginny frowned.

What was he talking about?

"Sorry for what, Harry?" she asked.

He looked over at her again, his eyes searching for something. He reached out and touched her face before leaning in and brushing his lips across hers gently. Harry pulled away a little to look into her eyes.

"For everything… if it weren't for me, Malfoy's dad wouldn't have slipped Voldemort's diary into your cauldron… you wouldn't have been hurt in the Department of Mysteries, you wouldn't have been captured and you wouldn't have-"

"If it weren't for you, I would be _dead_, Harry," she cut in, grabbing his hands firmly. "Harry, this isn't about whose fault it is that we're in this situation. If you want to compete, I think I'd win that one."

"Ginny, that's not the point," he replied.

Ginny shook her head.

"Then what is, Harry? What _is_ the point?"

"I don't want to die."

Ginny froze at those words.

"What?" she murmured.

Harry reached out and cupped her face in his hands.

"I don't want to die," he whispered. "And I don't want you to die."

"Harry, you can't always have it both-"

"I want you to go to the vampire safe house," he interrupted quickly, standing up and moving over to the closet.

"What?"

He pulled out a large backpack and placed it on her bed.

"I need you to go to the vampire safe house," he repeated.

Ginny stood up, frowning.

"I'm sorry, did I miss the part where you started dictating where I had to go?" she asked.

Harry looked up at her.

"It's the safest place," he told her.

Ginny looked around.

"The safest place? What the hell does that mean? _This_ is the safest place," she snapped, watching him as he started going through her drawers and placed clothes in the backpack. "What the hell are you doing?"

"You're going to the vampire safe house," he said firmly.

Ginny's eyes grew at the sound of his voice before they narrowed and she marched over to him, pushing him away from the backpack.

"I'm not going anywhere, Harry. I'm staying here with you," she hissed.

"It's safer with the vampires than it is here."

"Then you go with them," she said.

Harry let out a growl of frustration.

"Damn it, Ginny, why can't you just do this for me?"

"Because there's no reason to!"

"I don't want anything to happen to you!"

Ginny rolled her eyes and went back to her bed, sitting down on it in a huff.

"Not this again," she muttered.

Harry frowned.

"Ginny-"

She held up her hand to stop him.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore, Harry. So if you so much as _mention_ going to the vampire safe house again or _dying_ for me, then I'll make sure you'd wish you did die," she snapped angrily before picking up her book and opening it, glaring at the pages.

Harry stared at her for a moment before sitting down on the bed as well and just watched her.

For ten whole minutes, they sat there in silence. Harry watched while Ginny read, growing increasingly uncomfortable under his intense green eyes. She'd occasionally shift uneasily, avoiding looking up at him, but unable to move from the page she had been reading since he had come in. Harry continued to stare at her until Ginny slammed her book shut and looked up at him.

"Is there something you need?" she asked. "Or do you think that you can intimidate me into going to the vampire safe house by leering at me?"

Harry shook his head, looking down at her book.

"What are you reading?" he asked, shocking Ginny into a stunned silence.

She stared at him for a while before she looked down at her book as well and held it up.

"Um… Hermione mentioned it to me," she said hesitantly. "It's called Pride and Prejudice."

"Pride and Prejudice?"

Ginny nodded.

"It's actually pretty good for a muggle author," she whispered.

"Oh…"

Ginny could tell that this entire thing was bothering him. It had only been a few weeks ago that they were so close… that they had been able to love each other without fear of an attack, but all of that had changed the moment they had come back to England.

Reality had come back with them…

She wanted things to go back to how they had been over the past few months, but it could not. She could sense Harry's decreasing enthusiasm and knew he would not last much longer with the amount of strain she was putting on him.

"Harry," she whispered, forcing him to look at her. She reached out and touched his face. "I…" she hesitated at the words she was about to speak. "I promise to go to the vampire safe house…"

Harry frowned.

"Really?"

Ginny nodded.

"Yes… if you promise me that-"

"Gin, you can't ask me not to protect you," he cut in.

Ginny shook her head.

"No… not that… I just… I'll go to the vampire safe house if absolutely necessary," she told him. "I just want you to promise me that… when you go to fight Voldemort… you'll come back home…" Confusion flooded his face and she sighed. "Harry, my family will love you no matter what happens to me… this is your home… promise me you'll come back to it…"

She knew him to well.

That's what scared him the most… that she knew that he would leave… that she knew how scared he was…

"Harry, promise me you won't run away from this," she whispered.

He stared at her for a moment before leaning in and kissing her softy on the lips.

"I promise," he murmured into her lips before pulling her closer.

Ginny gasped at the touch of his hands moving around her waist, drawing her nearer as their kiss deepened. She slid onto his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, enjoying this moment. She felt his tongue slide across her bottom lip and she willingly opened her mouth to his, jerking slightly at the sensual action, she quickly moved her lips against his, wanting to get as much out of this as he did.

_Knock! Knock!_

The two jerked away from each other in astonishment and Ginny jumped off of Harry's lap, blushing a little as he stood up as well. Ginny glanced up at him quickly before she walked over to the door, where the person on the other side continued to bang on the door frantically.

She opened the door and frowned when she saw her mother standing there, tears pouring down her eyes.

"Mum… what's wrong?!" she asked, fear suddenly flooding her body. Harry noticed her mother's distressing appearance as well and came to the door, frowning.

"Mrs. Weasley, what happened?" he asked.

Mrs. Weasley shook her head, motioning for them to come.

"Ron's gone! They're all gone!"

* * *

"Hermione? Hermione?"

It was too loud… the words were hard to understand…

"Hermione?"

She let out a painful groan when the voice only got louder and more desperate. She tried to move, but something was keeping her from doing so. Her muscles seemed to be on fire as she slowly came to and her head was throbbing like nothing else. She wanted desperately to move and it was a bit distressing when she couldn't.

"Hermione, are you okay?"

"Hmmm," was all Hermione could offer whoever was calling for her. She tried to open her eyes and for a moment she thought she'd gone blind, but then she realized that it was just really dark. She blinked a few times before she noticed a couple strands of light filtering in through slits in what looked to be wood.

Wood?

She tried to gain a better aspect of her surroundings. She was probably in a box of some sort because of the hard surfaces. She could feel a rough motion and heard a deep drumming sound and had a feeling they were moving. Everything else she could not tell…

She tried to move again and finally the reasons she couldn't move became more localized. Her wrists and ankles were in unimaginable pain and her chest felt as if it were constricting her so she could hardly breathe.

"Hermione, are you okay? Please answer me."

The desperation was mounting, telling Hermione that whoever was looking for her was most likely in the same predicament… whatever that predicament was…

What was going on?

Hermione finally decided to answer and after a few failed attempts to put words together, she replied.

"I'm fine," she rasped out in a weak voice.

"Hermione? Hermione, is that you? Oh my God, it's good to hear your voice!"

Hermione groaned in pain and tried to move again.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" asked the fearful voice.

She closed her eyes and tried to think clearly through the pain that was clouding her mind. Her thoughts were starting to race as she tried to make sense of what was going on.

"Who is this?" she managed to ask.

"Curtis," he responded weakly. "Are you okay?"

Hermione sighed.

He was alive.

"Are you hurt?" she asked.

"I don't know… I can't feel anything and I can't move…" he said.

Hermione bit her lip and opened her eyes.

"Is Ron with you?" she asked.

"No… I don't know where he is."

"Ron?" Hermione called before coughing.

"Hermione, are you okay?"

She stopped coughing and sighed.

"I'm fine…" she murmured before biting her lip. She needed to hear Ron's voice. "Ron? Ron, can you hear me?"

There was no response and hysteria slowly began to build up in her, so she tried to settle it by distracting herself.

"He's probably still unconscious," she muttered. "How long have you been awake?"

"I don't know… an hour… two hours… five?" he replied feebly. "I haven't been keeping track."

"Were we moving?" she asked.

"No… that happened a little bit before you woke up…"

"Oh…" she whispered. "Okay…"

"Are you hurt?"

Hermione tried to look at herself, but her neck was so stiff that it was impossible to do so.

"Everything hurts," she whispered. "Ron…"

"I'm sure he's fine, Hermione," Curtis murmured.

Hermione tried to breathe through the cold that had suddenly filled the box and the ever constricting pressure on her chest.

"I know," she gasped out. "I'm just scared… I'm really scared…"

"It'll be okay."

Terror suddenly gripped her and she closed her eyes, trying to control her breathing as the box suddenly got very small.

"Curtis," she rasped out urgently. "Tell me about your time in Egypt."

Curtis shifted in his box.

"Egypt?"

Hermione bit her lip as she continued to try to suppress the mounting panic.

"Please… I need to get my mind off of what's happening… I want to hear your voice," she told him weakly. "Please… just talk to me…"

Curtis tried to think, but the boxes they were in were getting colder and the pain was not getting better.

"I don't know, Hermione…. I can't really think of anything at the moment," he muttered. "It's really cold…"

Hermione closed her eyes and bit back the tears.

"Please, Curtis," she pleaded. "Just one memory and I promise I won't bother you anymore… I just… I don't want to think about him…"

She could hear Curtis struggling to breathe and she opened her eyes.

"Curtis? Curtis, are you okay?"

There was a moment's hesitation before Curtis replied.

"How about I make something up instead?" he asked.

"Why?"

She almost thought she heard a laugh filter in through the wooden barriers around her and it comforted her.

"Because thinking about Egypt in a situation like this will only make things worse," he muttered.

Hermione took a shallow breath.

"Okay…"

Curtis was silent for a moment as he tried to get his thoughts together. Then he started.

"Well… there was this boy…"

Hermione snorted and immediately regretted it. Her stomach and throat burned and she let out a strangled groan, which alarmed her friend.

"Are you okay?"

Not wanting to alarm him, she responded quickly.

"I'm fine, Curtis… I just think it's a bit… cliché…"

She heard him laugh again and a bit of warmth entered her.

"Would you like to tell the story?" he asked before coughing.

Hermione took a deep breath.

"No… go on," she murmured, blocking out the jolt of excruciating pain that shot up her spine when the box was jerked around. She heard Curtis gasp at the movement, but he continued nonetheless.

"Okay… well… there was this boy and this girl. We'll call them-"

"Nicholas and Annie," Hermione cut in quickly before closing her eyes and gasping when the boxes bounced around.

"You done?"

"Yes…"

"Fine… Nicholas and Annie…" he agreed faintly. "They went to school together and fell in love, right… But they never told each other… As they waited for the perfect moment to admit their feelings for each other, an evil came and took him away…Nicholas tried to get out but-"

"Where was he taken?" she interrupted

"What?"

"Where was he taken?"

Curtis closed his eyes.

"The evil guy's secret lair," he replied.

"That's so specific…"

"I would have said a cold wooden box, but that seemed a bit too general."

Hermione smiled a little, sighing as she tried to move again.

"And a bit too predicting," she added.

Curtis realized what he'd said and bit his lip.

"I'm sorry, Hermione… I never meant-"

"It's okay… I should have never asked… it's hard not to think about death at a time like this…"

"It is…"

There was a brief silence before Hermione spoke.

"Go on… I want to know how the story ends…"

"You want to know how the story ends?"

Hermione bit her lip.

"Yeah… I do…"

She heard Curtis start coughing really hard and she waited a moment before he began to speak.

"Well… I'm sorry to burst your bubble… but so far, it doesn't look like it's going to end too well…"

Hermione closed her eyes and tried not to cry.

"You sound so sure…"

Curtis did not respond.

"Curtis?"

No response.

"Curtis, are you still there?" she asked. She let out a cry of pain when she moved her head to see her hands, which were bound and bloody. She tried to move them but more pain shot up her arms and down her spine.

"Curtis, please answer me…" He didn't and she began to panic again. "Ron? Ron, are you there?"

No one answered her.

She was alone again…

**A/N: Okay, sorry it took so long. I took a break to focus on ****Life After…**** I hope you weren't waiting too long and if you were, I apologize again. It's just getting a bit hard to concentrate on this story with school and everything else that's been happening. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. The next will hopefully be a bit more eventful. I haven't finished writing it yet, so I really don't know. **

**Mae Silverpaws:** I don't think you'll have to worry about Darcy. He was only knocked out. Ron, Hermione and Curtis on the other hand… well, they just seem to be hitting the lottery. Of course she's freaking out over something she has no control over. That's why she's freaking out. She knows in the end she can't control Harry, but (like almost all women) she wants the satisfaction (or disappointment) to be able to say that 'Hey, I warned you.' Was I wrong in saying that? Anyway, I think Ginny's just looking for an excuse to keep him as long as she possibly can, which is something I would probably do as well. *shrugs* Who knows?

**OzDust:** Well, so far, Ron's not even present, so perhaps it wasn't the best idea in the world? We'll see. I love Ginny's reaction also. I mean, we all know she doesn't want to die, but she doesn't want him to die for her either. It's pretty cool. As for Ron being cute. He's always cute! Adorable. We'll see more of what happens to them while they're in Voldemort's clutches.

**x-x-xCAROLANNEx-x-x:** I'm glad you liked it and I hope you stick with me for the rest of the story, no matter how long it takes. Cheers!

**rhr4eva:** No, she doesn't have a thing for both boys, but she is willing to _protect_ both boys and Voldemort's thinking about how he can use that in later days… hours… minutes… You did use a lot of CAPS. Very interesting.

**Jenny:** Very nice use of words. Hermione's words did put things in perspective for him and hopefully you saw that in the first half of the chapter. Curtis's fate isn't exactly sealed just yet. I'm still thinking over what I'm going to do with all three of them, so don't get too ahead of me or I might just read a review from one of my humble readers and decide I like their ending.  As for Stephanie, she knows that the DE's are bad, but since she's their telepath, she's sort of apathetic to it. She does what she needs to so that she can avoid pain and avoid becoming stable. Hope you do well with exams and I hope you enjoyed NC.

**wow60:** Don't worry, she doesn't. But Voldemort's going to use whatever relationship she has with him against her, so she's still screwed either way.

**nextbestthing:** Hopefully this chapter was not as jampacked as the last one. I decided to start slowing time down a bit since things are starting to reach a climax. So a lot of chapters from now on are probably going to be happening on the same day, which will be interesting if I can pull it off. I'll have to start keeping track of the time in the stories, which is something I absolutely hate, but is something I've had to do since Hermione left England. It's hard. (But you really don't care about that). Thanks for the Beta!

**Aaaaaah!:** Oh man, I _love_ Curtis. He's such a great friend, but like I said to Jenny, I haven't decided yet whether or not I'm going to let him live, so don't get too decisive. Let's wait and see what happens.

**ronandmion4ever:** It probably would have, but oh well. I'm actually surprised with how many people are actually agreeing with Ginny's reaction. I thought most people would have said that she's overreacting and needed to get a grip, but it's cool. To be honest, I almost forgot about the scar as well but then I was rereading things and was like, oh crap, I could use this! So I did. I'm glad you liked the funeral scene (if I can say that). I agree that the whole kidnapping thing will not help Ron and Hermione, especially if Hermione can't find Ron. I hope you continue to review the next few chapters because they are going to be _very_ interesting.

**mgmve2008:** Thank you! I'm glad you think so. Harry does have a huge decision to make, but hopefully he'll be able to make the right one in the long run. Of course Curtis is going to come barging in and ruining the moment. He's just that sort of friend. I hope you love the next couple of chapters.

**Chapter Tease:**

_"You thought what?" Curtis asked. _

_Hermione closed her eyes. _

_"Never mind…" she muttered. _

_There was a momentary silence before Curtis spoke. _

_"What's going to happen to us, Hermione?"_

_"What?"_

_She heard him let out a painful groan. _

_"What's going to happen to us?"_


	35. Changing Directions

_A man may fulfill the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer, and attempting a task he cannot achieve. _**-Oliver Wendell Holmes**

* * *

Roxanne looked up from the destroyed bed she and Viorel had taken over and waited a couple of seconds before Ginny Weasley finally opened the door to Bill's old room, looking disgruntled.

"They kicked you out ten minutes ago, what took you so long?" she asked curiously as she tossed aside a large piece of wood that had been digging into her skin. It didn't hurt, but she did not like where it was in the middle of the debris.

Ginny bit her lip.

"I thought you weren't allowed to eavesdrop on war matters?"

Roxanne shrugged, shoving another piece of wood to the side of the makeshift nest.

"I wasn't eavesdropping," she said as she moved to the other side of the room and stared at the work she had done. "Dumbledore opened the door and I wanted to know why… does that look like a mockingbird's nest or a squirrel's?"

Ginny hesitated, unsure of what the question meant.

"What?"

Roxanne looked over at the much younger woman and her dead eyes widened a bit.

"Oh, sorry, right… you… um… why'd they kick you out?" she muttered, her eyes constantly moving between Ginny and the monstrosity of a sleeping place she had created.

The redhead frowned, but said nothing about the unusual behavior.

"Uh… they wanted to speak to Harry… alone," she muttered, sitting down in the only chair that wasn't ruined. "I don't know what's going to happen… Ron and Hermione are missing along with Hermione's muggle friend…"

Roxanne glided over to where Ginny sat and kneeled down before her, taking Ginny's hands in her icy ones.

"Your heart rate has been accelerating since you and Harry stopped snogging," she whispered, a small smile appearing on her gorgeous face when Ginny's cheeks turned red. "Just because I can't eavesdrop, doesn't mean I can't keep tabs on everyone's health…"

Ginny sighed.

"I… I'm worried Harry's going to leave… again," she whispered. "He wants to finish this war and with Ron and Hermione gone… and with me back here… he'll do anything to make that go faster."

"You think he'll get himself killed?" Roxanne asked, tilting her head to the side.

She shook her head.

"No… I'm afraid he'll kill Voldemort and then go into hiding," Ginny muttered.

Roxanne was about to reply to that comment when she turned and stared at the bed. Her black eyes narrowed and she stood up, walking over to it. She dug her fingers into a splintered poster and pulled it out of the mess. She snapped it like a twig into two pieces and planted those pieces at the head of the nest-like structure. Ginny watched her as she continuously rearranged the room.

"Roxy, what are you-"

"Ginny!"

Ginny turned to look at the door while Roxanne continued to shift things around. Biting her lip, she stood up and went to the door, opening it and leaning out into the hallway.

"What?!"

"Come down here!"

Sighing, she shut the door behind her, leaving Roxanne to her unusual behavior to go downstairs where Luna and Neville were also standing.

"What?" she asked.

Neville pointed to the kitchen.

"Harry needs to speak to you."

Ginny frowned looked from her two friends before nodding and going into kitchen. Dumbledore, Remus and Moody were standing there with Harry, looking incredibly grave. Ginny suddenly felt self-conscious and she ran a hand through her hair as she chewed on her bottom lip, fear gripping her spine with a cold, unnerving sensation.

"Um… am I in trouble?" she asked hesitantly, glancing over at Harry, who seemed to desperately want to be alone with her at the moment.

Dumbledore shook his head.

"No, Ms. Weasley, you are not in trouble," he said slowly, beckoning for her to sit down at the table.

Ginny obliged and sat down at the kitchen table. Harry joined her, offering no explanation as to what was going on.

"What's going on?" she asked. When no one answered, she turned to Harry, trying to catch his eyes. "Harry…"

Remus coughed.

"Ginny, we're going to be taking Harry out of here tonight," he told her.

Ginny froze.

"What?"

Remus sighed.

"You know about Ron's Death Mark, right?"

"Yes…"

"Then you'll understand that the Mark can be traced?"

Ginny's eyes widened in sudden and angering realization.

"YOU DID THIS ON PURPOSE?!" she shrieked, standing up. Harry grabbed her arm and yanked her back down in her seat.

"Ginny, shut it," he snapped quickly. "Listen to him."

Harry's sudden irritability stunned her into silence and her lips formed a thin pale line while her eyes narrowed.

"Ginny," Remus whispered, gaining back her attention. "Ginny, we don't have much time to explain what's going on. You just need to know is that we have forty-eight hours to find Ron, Hermione and Curtis… at the most seventy-two. Harry needs to be ready to fight Voldemort and he can't do that here."

Ginny looked around.

"Then why are you telling me?"

"Because I didn't want to leave without you knowing," Harry muttered, not looking at her as she turned to look at him.

"What?" Ginny asked.

"I didn't want to leave-"

"No, I heard that," she snapped, glaring at him. "You called a group meeting to say _goodbye_?"

Harry's eyes grew and he looked up at her.

"What? No, that's not-"

Ginny stood up.

"Look, Harry," she hissed. "If you want to say goodbye to me before you leave, then you can find me. You don't need to bring your bodyguards along."

"Ginny," Remus snapped warningly.

She turned to face the three older men.

"I'm not five years old," she said angrily. "I may be sixteen years old, but I think I've gone through enough crap to deserve a little bit of respect." She turned to Harry. "I'll talk to you later."

With that said, she stormed out of the kitchen. Moody glanced over at Harry.

"I think that went well."

* * *

Hermione did not know how much time had passed since Curtis had stopped talking and it was driving her absolutely crazy. Every nerve in her body was on fire with pain, but her hands and legs were bound magically, making it close to impossible for her to move. The crate she was in was still maintaining an unbearable level of cold and the occasional bumps made it hard for her to concentrate on surviving.

She had traveled in and out of consciousness for a while after she had spent at least an hour crying. Now she just lay on her side, unable to move for fear of pain. Her mind traveled to where ever it chose as the same low drumming noise blocked out most of what was going on outside of the box. The noise indicated that they were still moving…

Why were they still moving?

Biting her lip, she tried to roll over onto her back, ignoring the excruciating pain that sliced its way up her back. She let out a strangled cry of pain before she finally got onto her back. Her chest constricted, suffocating her momentarily before her airways opened and a huge flush of air flooded her lungs, hurting her more. She rested her bonded hands on her stomach before she closed her eyes and tried to remain conscious.

"Hermione?" came a weak voice.

Her eyes popped open and she turned her head to the left of her, where the voice was coming from.

"Curtis?"

"Yeah… I think I passed out on you… sorry," he whispered.

Hermione sighed.

"It's okay… I'm just glad you're okay… I thought…" she trailed off.

"You thought what?" Curtis asked.

Hermione closed her eyes.

"Never mind…" she muttered.

There was a momentary silence before Curtis spoke.

"What's going to happen to us, Hermione?"

"What?"

She heard him let out a painful groan.

"What's going to happen to us?"

_What's going to happen to us?_

That was a question Hermione had tried not to think about for the longest time. She knew the way Bellatrix Lestrange worked. She knew what would happen to them.

What would happen to Curtis…

"I'm going to die, aren't I?" he asked at her foreboding silence.

Once again, tears began to fill her eyes and she tried to stop them.

"Curtis, nothing's going to happen to us," she murmured. "They're going to find us and we'll be okay…"

"You don't sound to convincing."

"I'm in pain."

"You're lying."

"Curtis-"

"I'm not stupid, Hermione," she heard him whisper with a shaky, fear-ridden voice. "I saw the way that lady looked at me…"

Hermione frowned.

"You were unconscious when they captured us," she muttered.

Curtis coughed a little before replying.

"I woke up a bit after that… we were in a building… I saw her… I saw the way she looked at me… I heard what she said about me… I'm not stupid Hermione… I'm going to die…"

Hermione released a sob before biting her lip.

"We're going to get out of here before anything happens," she told him. "You're not going to die."

"Hermione, please don't lie to me… I hate it when you lie to me…"

She did not respond. Instead, she struggled to roll over on her stomach and after a couple of seconds of intense heaving, she threw up.

"Hermione? Are you okay?" Curtis asked urgently. "Hermione-"

"I'm fine," she gasped before feeling nauseous again. "Just give me a moment." She coughed a few times before she began retching again. She continued to do that until her stomach was completely empty before she returned to lying pitifully on her back, trembling violently as she tried to gain control of her faculties.

"You're sick… Hermione, you need to rest."

"Right, because I've been exercising like crazy in this crate," she muttered bitterly.

"You've been worrying about Ron and I. You need to sleep."

"I can't… I'm too cold and I'm in pain and I'm afraid that if I do…"

"You won't wake up?"

She closed her eyes and tried to think of anything but the previous conversation and the appalling stench that was filling her crate. Curtis didn't press her so they remained silent for a while, listening to the drumming and feeling the movements of whatever was carrying them.

"What's going on?"

Hermione nearly rolled over into the waste she had just gotten rid of out of shock. She opened her eyes and turned her head to the right.

"Hello?"

"Hermione?" Curtis muttered.

"Where am I?"

Hermione frowned.

"Is someone there?" she asked.

"Hermione, is there some else there?" he asked.

Hermione bit her lip.

"Curtis, wait a moment… someone else is beside me… it could be Ron…"

"Okay."

Hermione turned to her right and took a deep breath before she spoke.

"Who is this?" she asked.

"What the hell's going on? Where am I?"

Disappointment and mild panic filled Hermione instantly.

It wasn't Ron.

_Where was he?_

"Try not to panic," she told the person. "It won't help."

"_What?_ What's going on?"

"You've been captured… what's your name?"

"I… I'm-"

She heard a hacking cough and then something splatter. Hermione felt her stomach churn and finally understood what Curtis had been going through when she had thrown up. She waited patiently until the man stopped.

"Sorry," he rasped.

"It's okay… you're not the first."

"Oh… My name… I'm Patrick… Patrick Dunham…"

Hermione's eyes widened.

"Patrick? Oh my God, Patrick," she gasped. "Is Charlotte okay?"

The man seemed pretty confused and scared by the question.

"Charlotte… how the hell do you know about my sister? What's going on?

"It's me… Hermione… I'm the girl you helped a couple of months ago, with Neville and Luna," she whispered.

"Hermione, who is it?" Curtis asked. "Who are you talking to?"

Hermione was going to turn her head to the left, but thought better of it when the rancid stench of her vomit forced her to reconsider and she closed her eyes.

"It's Patrick Dunham… the man who helped me get out of England," she said.

"Hermione?! Hermione, what are you doing? What the hell is going on? Where's Charlotte?" Patrick interrupted, panic evident in his voice.

Hermione could feel the same panic growing in her again and she tried to control it.

"Patrick, you need to calm down," she pleaded. "We can't afford to panic."

"What's going on?!"

The intensity of his question frightened her and for a few minutes she was unable to speak as she tried to calm herself down. She needed to control her heart… she needed to stay alive.

"Patrick, please," she breathed out. "You need to stay calm. Please…"

There was another pause before Patrick spoke again.

"Where's my sister?"

"I don't know."

"Hermione, what's going on?"

"He's asking for his sister," she replied to Curtis.

"Who are you talking to?" Patrick asked.

Whatever they were in was bumped and she let out a cry of pain when her legs were pushed up against the walls of the crate.

"Hermione? Hermione, are you okay?"

She held her breath for a moment, the smell of her vomit filling up the entire box.

"I'm fine… Patrick… do you remember what happened before this?" she asked.

"I… I don't know… I remember going to the hotel," he whispered weakly. "Charlotte was talking to her boss… then…"

"Then?"

"There was an explosion… oh my God… she's dead…"

Hermione's eyes widened and she turned her head to the right and painfully pressed her hands to the side of the crate.

"Patrick, you shouldn't say that… you don't know what happened-"

"No… I saw her… she's dead…"

"Patrick, please, you need to stay calm… you can't say that-"

"I saw her fly into a metal pole, Hermione! She's DEAD!"

Hermione let out a heart wracking sob as pain and hysteria flooded her entire being. It was excruciating. It was unbearable. It was real.

"Hermione! Hermione, what's going on? Hermione talk to me!" Curtis yelped fearfully. "Hermione!"

Hermione couldn't speak.

She wanted to get out.

The walls were closing in on her, the stench was getting worse and every nerve-ending in her body was literally being tossed into a place where there was screaming and gnashing of teeth.

"Hermione!" Curtis begged. "Tell me what's wrong!"

She was shrieking and that only made things worse, but she couldn't stop herself.

That's when the boxes started to quake violently; tossing them around like twigs and making the intensity of the pain accelerate tremendously. Hermione could suddenly hear many more people screaming than she thought were even in their vicinity. It was as if there were people all over the place.

Then just as quickly as it started, it stopped.

Everything stopped.

The movement.

The drumming noise.

The screaming.

But not the pain.

The pain increased.

For a moment, all they could hear was the wind blowing through the slits in the crates and then they heard people moving around outside.

"How long do we have to be here? It's freezing," someone grumbled.

"We have to stay here until Bellatrix comes back with the Dark Lord," a man responded bitterly.

"Why'd we have to transport them in a carriage?"

"Because Bellatrix didn't want us touching them and this was the only way she could assure we didn't."

"Why would we _want_ to touch them?"

"Who knows… look, someone's coming."

Hermione could hear more movement as someone approached the crate. She heard another set of footprints coming from the side of the carriage they were in and strained to hear what was going on.

"Open them."

"Why? They don't deserve-"

"_Avada Kerdava!"_

There was a thump.

"Anyone else?" There was a momentary silence before the person spoke again. "Open them!"

There was a wheezing noise before the front of the crate opened magically and light flooded through. It took Hermione a second to get used to the light before she turned her head up to look out into a frozen waste land.

"Ugh! It smells horrible! Some of these shitbloods have puked in their crates," someone growled. "I'm not cleaning that up."

The captives could hear someone move around in the snow outside of the crates.

"Don't bother cleaning it up," came an emotionless woman's voice. "They deserve to wallow in their own bodily waste."

"Disgusting," someone else spat.

Hermione bit the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming out in pain as the cold air began to constrict her.

"They're not moving."

"Are they dead?" the woman asked with genuine curiosity.

"No. Just scared shitless… ugh, that smell is rancid," a man gagged.

Hermione, Curtis, Patrick and whoever else was conscious could hear their captors moving around in the snow, crunching the icy substance beneath their boots as they examined whatever they were in.

"Some of them must have died. That smell is too bad for something to be living," another commented.

"There were nine to begin with and all of them were injured when going in there. It's probably just blood," the first man muttered.

"How many are still alive?" the woman asked coldly.

"Seven," came the chilling response. "A muggle and a mudblood lover died on the way."

She couldn't help it.

The strain that had been on her and the fear that had been piling up inside of her was too much to handle anymore and the words that had entered her crate had snapped her.

She let out a piercing sob before painfully stuffing her bloody bonded fist in her mouth, tears streaming down her face.

"What the hell was that?"

"It came from that crate."

Hermione heard someone approach her box and a moment later she let out a shriek when that person grabbed the bonds around her wrists and yanked her forcefully out of the crate, letting her fall to a crumpled heap in the snow. She immediately began quaking uncontrollably, her teeth chattering and her eyes bulging as the power of the cold began to sink into her.

She caught sight of the person who had grabbed her; a tall, hulking man with hateful brown eyes and a smirk saved only for those in her situation.

"Hermione Granger," the man spat. "She's Potter's friend right? Pretty thing."

"She's a mudblood," another man said in disgust.

The first person rolled his eyes and kicked her over onto her back, making her scream when his boot came in contact with her now broken ribs.

"I know that, you idiot. I just want to teach her a lesson," he growled before poking Hermione again with his foot and making her cry out again.

"Leave her alone!" Hermione heard Curtis scream from his crate.

The man whipped out his wand and was about to point it to Curtis's crate when another Death Eater stopped him, shoving his hand away from the crates.

"You kill the rest of them and Bellatrix will kill you," he hissed.

"That blood muggle-"

"Who cares what he said, Trent? He's going to die anyway so leave him alone."

The woman, who Hermione recognized to be Narcissa Malfoy, pulled a face and stepped around the men to get a better look at Hermione.

"She's not that pretty, the little bitch," she murmured evenly.

As they began to talk about what they should do to Hermione, she started looking around.

They were in the Forbidden Forest, she knew that much. Where in the Forbidden Forest, she did not know. She knew you could not access the forest without using the train, which was not in the possession of Voldemort at the moment.

So the Death Eaters must have taken them to Hogsmeade first and then taken them out to where ever they were.

But why?

She looked back towards the carriage and up to see nine full-sized crates on the back of the wagon. All of them were open. She caught sight of an arm or a leg sticking out, but other than that, she could not see anything from her place on the ground.

"What the hell is she doing out of her crate?"

All of them turned to see Bellatrix Lestrange walking towards them through the snow. Behind her were six others, five of which didn't seem to mind seeing Hermione on the ground. The other did.

"Hermione! Oh my God, what the hell did you do to her?!"

_Ron?_

She wanted to turn to see him, but her body had gone numb extremely quickly and she was no longer able to control anything. She could hear Ron struggling against his captors, but he was being held back and that only added to her hysteria.

She wanted to see him.

She wanted to know that he was really alive.

"LET GO OF ME!"

"_Cru-"_

"_Avada Kerdava!"_

There was a flash of green light and then she heard something fall to the ground. She could feel herself crying, but wasn't really sure if it was just her imagination or not until she felt someone fall down beside her and turn her head to face them.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Ron asked frantically, clutching her face in his bonded hands. "What happened-"

He was suddenly yanked out of her view and for a moment she thought he was dead, but then she heard him swearing furiously as Bellatrix approached Hermione and looked down at her.

"My, my, this is interesting. A mudblood popsicle," she commented before looking over at one of the men who had transported the crates. "Get them out of their crates and into the clearing. Voldemort wants to expedite the process so we must move quickly."

"Are we going to kill them?" one asked hopefully.

Bellatrix glanced over at Ron, who was glaring loathingly at her.

"We'll kill those who deserve to die."

* * *

Remus watched Harry quietly as he placed his backpack down in the kitchen.

"You're ready?" he asked the young man.

Harry looked up from rummaging through his backpack and his eyes clouded over.

"I don't know…" he muttered before shrugging and looking back down at his backpack. "This is something you all have been planning for the past seventeen years… and all I have are a couple of days… maybe not even that."

Remus stared at Harry for a while, his mind going over that past seventeen years.

He had lost his two best friends…

He had seen men and women die…

He had seen Harry fall apart countless times…

He wanted this to be over just as badly as Harry did.

"You need to be prepared, Harry," he whispered.

Harry snorted.

"Right… because I have to save the wizarding world," he replied.

"I hope you weren't planning on saving it by yourself."

Harry and Remus looked over to the kitchen door to see Luna and Neville standing there, offering wane smiles as they set down their own backpacks.

"You don't have to face Voldemort alone, Harry," Luna whispered before glancing over to Neville. "Besides," she added. "Neville's been getting a bit antsy. I think he wants to see some action."

Harry glanced over at Remus before shrugging.

"Well, we can't keep Neville locked up for long, I suppose," he muttered.

Luna smiled and walked over to him, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tightly.

"It's going to be okay, Harry," she whispered before holding him out at arms length. "Your parents would be so proud of you."

Harry felt his heart constrict painfully and he bit the inside of his cheek to keep them from seeing his tears.

"I hope you're right," he replied.

Neville snorted.

"She bloody well be right," he grumbled. "I'm going to be losing a lot of sleep because of this."

Luna and Remus laughed, but that soon ended when there were four loud cracks. They turned to see Dumbledore, Moody, Snape and Tonks standing there, ready for action.

"Are you ready?" Dumbledore asked before noticing Luna and Neville. "Ah… I see we will be having company."

Neville and Luna stood firmly in place.

"We want to help Harry," Neville told them.

Dumbledore nodded before turning to Harry.

"Are you ready?" he asked calmly.

The young man nodded but the all noticed something darkening in Harry's eyes. Luna bit her lip and glanced over at Neville before turning to Harry.

"Harry," she whispered. "She's out in the hallway… she's waiting for you…"

"Albus, we don't have much time," Moody whispered, not having heard Luna's words. "We have a very short window of opportunity to get Harry out of here before it all goes to hell."

Harry turned to Dumbledore, urgency suddenly overriding his facial features.

"Can I say goodbye?" he asked quickly. "Please?"

Moody shook his head.

"Albus, we have to go-"

Dumbledore turned to Moody.

"Alastor, I think we can afford a few minutes so that Harry can have some time to say goodbye," he said before turning to Harry and nodding.

Harry mouthed a thank you before he walked out of the kitchen, where Ginny was. She had her back against the wall, her eyes on the ceiling. Harry stared at her for a moment before looking down at his hands.

"Dumbledore was telling me that there was going to be a graduation ball this year," he whispered. "I was thinking… that when I came back… you could come with me?"

Ginny continued to stare at the ceiling.

"When I come back?" she repeated. "That's such an interesting statement."

"Ginny-"

She pulled away from the wall and turned to face him, biting her lip.

"Harry," she cut in, tilting her head to the side and examining him with such an obvious love that it hurt him. It seemed as if she was going to tell him something important, but then she bit her lip and pointed behind her. "I've got to wake up early tomorrow morning… mum's going to be pissed and… people are going to start dying… and you're going to be gone…"

Harry moved towards her, but she stopped him and shook her head.

"Harry…" she whispered. "It'd be better if you just left…"

Harry stared at her for a moment before he held up a finger for her to wait and disappeared into the kitchen briefly before he reappeared and held out a small hand mirror.

"Take it," he whispered.

"What is it?" she asked, holding it up so she could see.

"It's a way for us to stay in contact," he replied. "I'll keep you updated for as long as possible."

Ginny nodded before looking down at her hands and shrugging.

"I'll see you later."

He raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"You make it sound as if I'm coming back," he commented.

Ginny closed her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest, holding herself together.

"You better be," she murmured. "I don't think I can handle another funeral."

Harry nodded and backed up towards the kitchen door.

"I'll see you later then," he whispered.

Ginny smiled and started to walk back up the stairs when Harry's voice stopped her.

"Hey."

Ginny turned slightly and looked down at him.

"What?"

He smiled up at her and winked.

"Sweet dreams, love," he said softly.

Ginny's heart literally melted away and a warm feeling swept over her in that moment and she nodded silently, unable to tear her eyes away from him.

_Sweet dreams, love…_

"Sweet dreams, love," she murmured unintentionally, making Harry smile a little at her amazement. When she realized that she'd said it aloud, her face went red and she lowered her eyes, smiling as well when she heard a chuckle escape Harry's lips. "Thank you, Harry…"

"You're welcome," he replied quietly.

She nodded a little before continuing on up the stairs. Harry watched her go before he went into the kitchen where the others were waiting for him.

"Okay… I'm ready…"

**A/N: Hey guys! So yeah, this was a very interesting chapter. I'm sorry it's not as exciting as you guys would like it to be, but trust me it's going to start picking up. I know a few of you were freaking out about Ron, so I decided to bring him back before everything **_**really**_** started. Stick with me, I'm trying the best I can to get this story right. I still don't know how I'm going to end it, so as for who's going to die, I have absolutely no idea. I guess that will happen when it happens. **

**Jenny:** True, he is an innocent muggle. I'm happy they were able to get themselves together before he left also. I loved the last scene. It made me smile, which is actually something I don't do a lot when I write my stories, so that's pretty cool.

**mgmve2008:** I'm sorry it wasn't as exciting as you would have liked, but I hope you still enjoyed it. I think the H/G moments in this story are actually my favorite because they're so revealing. Don't get me wrong, R/Hr are my favorite pairing, but let's be honest, they don't have as many sweet moments as Harry and Ginny do. Ugh! I would hate to be claustrophobic in that situation! It would suck so much.

**Nextbestthing:** Thanks! I appreciate what you're doing for me, you have no idea! H/G scene was also my favorite. BTW, we need to find a way to contact each other. I didn't get the return DocX file from you. Is it possible for you to enable messages to be sent to you? That way we'll be able to contact you. Thanks!

**Ron:** Well, to be honest, Ron wasn't really giving her much to go off of, so Curtis sort of tried to help out. Albeit, it wasn't correct, but he was trying to help. But I think it's obvious that Hermione, though she loves Curtis dearly, loves Ron a lot more.

**rhr4eva:** Okay, I have to tell you something about that story. It was supposed to be in the fourth chapter of this story, where Hermione was still at home. Her and Curtis were supposed to be out at the park and just talking. I ended up cutting that chapter out, but I saved it just in case I might use it later. I remembered it when I was writing the last chapter and so I decided to use it as a way to pass time. I think it was just something Curtis thought up to distract Hermione. I mean, when someone asks for a story, you normally think about the generic boy meets girl things. Perhaps he was talking about Hermione and himself or Hermione and Ron, that's up to you. It does work for both of them though, doesn't it?

**ronandmion4ever: **Finally! I was waiting a while then I was like, you know what, I'm going to send you a message. I think there's a bit more closure between Harry and Ginny, but yeah, I liked that one scene also. Oh, there will be more of the vampires in the next chapter, trust me. It's actually going to be very interesting, but perhaps a bit short. Oh believe me, I've woken up in a dark room also. Nothing bad happened of course, but it was creepy for a while. I loved the story, but as I said to rhr4eva, it could have been about anyone. I hope you enjoyed the update!

**Chapter Tease:**

_Charlotte let out a low hiss, rolling her shoulders and preparing herself to attack the young woman cowering in the corner. _

"She's pregnant_," she growled loathingly. _

"_What?"_

_This came from Charlie and Bill, who had come down right when the commotion had started. All the other people also looked confused. _

"_She's pregnant?" Mrs. Weasley repeated weakly._


	36. Unnatural Oddities

_Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem to be more afraid of life than death._** -James F. Bymes**

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S GONE?!"

Those were the words that shook the walls of the old Black house and woke everyone up the morning after Harry's quick departure. Ginny would have fallen out of her bed if Viorel had not moved and caught her in his arm, lifting her lightly back into her bed before turning to look at the door where Charlie appeared a few seconds later.

"Gin, wake up!" he snapped. "You need to come downstairs!"

Ginny bit her lip and tried to look like she had no idea what was going on.

"Why?" she asked sleepily as she tried to flatten her hair a bit and picked up Darcy, who had been sleeping with her since he had come back from the Ministry.

Viorel tilted his head at her but said nothing as she got out of bed and walked over to her brother.

"Harry's missing," Charlie replied heatedly. "So are Luna and Neville."

With that said, he continued up the stairs, probably to tell the others who were trying to figure out why the Weasley matriarch was shrieking. Ginny glanced behind her at Viorel, who had a knowing look in his eyes.

"Did you have sweet dreams?" he asked as he followed her out the door.

Ginny blushed furiously and hefted Darcy more firmly in her arms.

"You heard that?" she asked while the growing creature licked her face playfully.

He quickly reached the bottom of the stairs and instead of answering her, went into the large living room where Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were facing off with Moody. Ginny hurried after him and sat down on the couch beside Fred, who didn't seem to be paying much attention to what his mother was screaming about. George and Lee were standing nearby, watching Mrs. Weasley warily.

To Ginny's surprise, seven vampires along with Constantine were also occupying the area, watching the dispute with minimal interest.

"Molly, you need to think about this rationally. Harry-"

"Rationally? _RATIONALLY_? You took him away! He's gone and now we can't protect him!" she screamed.

Moody shook his head.

"He's with Dumbledore, Molly. You know just as much as I do that Albus won't let anything happen to him," he replied.

"You had no right, Alastor," Mr. Weasley growled. "We're responsible for him! You should have told us!"

"You know that Molly wouldn't have let him go if we had!"

"Of course I wouldn't have!" she snapped angrily. "He's not ready!"

"How could you let him get away?!"

"I'm sorry Moody's House of Security for the Hormonally Imbalanced Idiotic Teens isn't working to your advantage, but at this present moment, he's gone and we've got other things to worry about."

"HE'S NOT READY!" Mr. Weasley growled.

"HE'S SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD, MOLLY!" Moody yelled. "He's never _going_ to be ready! We don't have much time to get your son back safely and unless you're willing to see him die, then I suggest you stop yelling at me and start preparing for a war!"

"Don't you dare-"

"Harry's fine!" Ginny snapped, drawing all the attention to herself. Biting her lip, she stood up, placing Darcy down on the couch. "Harry's fine…" she repeated.

Mr. Weasley's eyes grew.

"You knew?"

Ginny shrugged.

"I knew he was leaving… I didn't see him _leave_…"

"Ginny, why would you keep this to yourself?" Mrs. Weasley asked. "Why wouldn't you tell-"

"Because it's his time to go, mum," Ginny cut in quickly. "He had to go…"

They all stared at Ginny for a moment before Moody coughed and turned to the vampires standing motionless in the corner.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, not wanting to get anyone, especially Ginny, in any more trouble or put them under any more stress.

With Harry gone, they all knew the end was drawing near and to turn on each other would only make matters worse.

Constantine motioned towards Ginny.

"Mr. Potter asked us to watch over Ginerva and take her to our safe house if absolutely necessary," he replied respectfully.

George walked over to his sister and spun her around.

"Ginny, you're _way_ too special," he commented as she smiled. "You get more protection than Harry."

Ginny glanced over at Viorel, who was watching her brother's actions carefully.

"They don't really care about me," she said, not bothering to hide her statements. "They just like the way I smell."

Mrs. Weasley snorted.

"Well, I think it would be best if they left. We have enough trouble without them here," she snapped.

"I think it would be best if we stayed," Viorel countered.

"Like hell it would. I don't want you near my daughter," the matriarch hissed.

Viorel took a step towards the woman, but Constantine let out a menacing growl from the depths of his tiny chest. Viorel's eyes instantly flared, but he backed down.

"We will wait outside," Constantine ordered.

Charlotte, the female from the Bypass, stepped forward.

"We have not seen Roxanne in a while," she whispered alluringly. "Will you call her?"

Viorel nodded and disappeared briefly before returning. Roxanne appeared just after and for a moment they looked as if they were going to go, but then things seemed to get worse.

The three females behind Constantine along with Charlotte bared their fangs and released a bloodcurdling scream that shook the walls of the house. Viorel's eyes turned hellish and his entire body became a death trap as he placed himself in front of Roxanne, his true nature showing as his skin stretched over his bones and became paler than anything else around.

For the first time, Ginny saw real, primal fear in Roxanne's eternal eyes. Instead of defending herself, she shot over to the corner where Fred was sitting and cowered behind him like a terrified child.

Everyone else moved away from the interactions, backing up into the corners as they watched fearfully, waiting for something else to happen. Darcy produced a piercing scream, fear evident in his face as he opened his wings and prepared to fly if needed.

Constantine grabbed one of the females by the back of the neck and dragged her back while the other two males grabbed Charlotte and the other two, shoving them away from an incensed Viorel and petrified Roxanne.

"_What the hell is wrong with you four_?" Constantine snarled while Viorel carefully backed over to Roxanne, who was starting to make weird noises from her spot behind Fred.

Charlotte let out a low hiss, rolling her shoulders and preparing herself to attack the young woman cowering in the corner.

"_She's pregnant_," she growled loathingly.

"What?"

This came from Charlie and Bill, who had come down right when the commotion had started. All the other people also looked confused.

"She's pregnant?" Mrs. Weasley repeated weakly. "Is that even _possible_?"

Roxanne released a whimper which caused the other female vampires to go into a snarling frenzy as they tried to get away from their male captors and attack the woman.

"_I CAN SMELL IT ON HER!_" one of the females, a middle-aged blonde, shrieked as she fought against the male holding her. "_I WANT IT! LET ME GO!_"

Viorel let out a deafening roar that only made them scream harder before he made a lunge at them. Constantine grabbed him by the arm and slammed him down into the ground before rounding on the other males.

"_Take them outside, now!"_ he hissed.

After a brief hissing, all of the vampires except Constantine, Roxanne and Viorel disappeared from the room, leaving the others to relax… a little…

"What the hell was that?" Moody demanded instantly.

Viorel turned to Roxanne, who was still in the corner but no longer looked scared.

"You're pregnant?" he asked curiously.

Roxanne's eyes flickered over to Ginny before she nodded.

"Yes… I was going to tell you in a couple of days," she murmured.

Ginny's eyes widened.

"Is that why you've been acting funny?" she gasped. "Rearranging the bedroom and such?"

"_Destroying_ my bedroom," Bill muttered with a hint of disgust in his voice.

Roxanne stood up and nodded again.

"I am pregnant," she repeated. "I just needed some time to figure things out."

Lee looked around the room.

"Why in the hell were those female vampires acting like they wanted to kill you?" he asked.

Viorel wrapped his arms around Roxanne, who suddenly looked smaller and weaker than normal.

"Because they did," he hissed. "They wanted to kill her for the baby…"

Ginny frowned.

"But vampires can't die," she muttered.

Mrs. Weasley raised an eyebrow.

"I think the more important question is _how_ she's pregnant in the first place?" she snapped. "I thought you were dead? How are you pregnant?"

Everyone turned to the vampires for an explanation and Constantine sighed.

"Vampire pregnancies are not uncommon," he said. "In fact, they're more common than human pregnancies."

"But _you're dead_," Mrs. Weasley insisted. "How are you _pregnant_?"

Roxanne pulled away from Viorel and pressed a hand to her stomach.

"We are dead, but certain parts of our bodies can still work for a certain amount of time," she explained. "Our lungs still work so we can smell and give the appearance of breathing. Our brains still work and our sexual organs still work, in case you didn't notice," she added, glancing over at Mrs. Weasley and Ginny, who both turned completely red. "But only to a certain extent…"

Ginny frowned.

"To a certain extent?"

Constantine looked up at Roxanne.

"A female vampire can only carry a baby for two and a half weeks before the female turns immortal again and the embryo dies," he told them.

Charlie held up his hand.

"I'm sorry, did you just say that Roxanne is _mortal_?" he asked. "As in she can _die?_"

They all took a step back when Viorel shot a nasty look over in Charlie's direction.

"You offering?" he growled dangerously.

Roxanne grabbed Viorel's arm and grabbed his attention.

"Viorel, calm down," she whispered. "_J'ai encore une semaine et demie_."

Ginny bit her lip.

"Wait, I don't get it. She becomes mortal when she's pregnant and then after a specific time, she turns immortal? What happens after that? What happens to the baby?" she asked.

Before the vampires could answer that question, the fireplace turned green and after a moment, Kingsley's face appeared.

"Moody, we've got a problem," he said loudly. "Our first dead hostage showed up in London and it's not good."

"Weasley?"

Kingsley shook his head.

"No, a muggle, but you really need to get down to London," he said. "Voldemort's not screwing around anymore. He wants Potter."

* * *

"_You've been quiet since we got here."_

_Stephanie looked up from her cup of hot chocolate and bit her lip._

"_I… I just didn't expect to see you here," she murmured meekly, avoiding his intense gaze._

_She had run into him when she had been in the Egyptian Ministry of Magic and though he was her Overseer, over the past few months she had started to get visions of only her Overseer and that bothered her greatly. In turn, she had stopped writing him in order to sort out her feelings for him. _

_Unfortunately, her sudden silence had brought about a concern in England and forced Dumbledore to send Severus Snape down to see why she had failed to reply to his numerous letters._

"_You think I'd just let it go? You could have switched," Severus said slowly, watching her carefully as she nervously sipped her cocoa. _

_If it were not for her dark skin, he would have seen her blush. _

"_I didn't mean to worry Dumbledore… I just… had a lot to think about," she muttered before flinching as a flash of white light interrupted her sight briefly. That had been happening a lot lately and she had a feeling it had something to do with not telling Severus about her visions._

_Severus immediately picked up on her temporary pain and stiffened visibly at the sight of it._

"_You're supposed to tell me what you're thinking about," he pointed out coolly. "You're having white flashes, aren't you?"_

_Stephanie sighed, rubbing her temples as she tried to slow her heart rate. The more excited she was, the faster the flashes came. _

"_I'm just a little out of sorts, I'm sorry," she replied, taking another sip of her drink._

"_How long have they been going on?" he asked. _

"_A couple of days. It's not serious," she whispered._

"_Were you going to wait to tell me what you were seeing _when_ they got serious?" he asked with a hint of bitterness in his voice._

_Stephanie looked up at him. _

"_No…" she replied carefully. "I was going to wait until they changed."_

_Snape decided against responding, so they fell into a tense silence that lasted until Stephanie finally decided to break it, thirty minutes later. _

"_Um… do you have a place to stay?" she asked._

"_Yes."_

_She nodded, glancing around the café. Not that she had to._

_In the past half hour, all of her visions had been of the café and people staring at the odd couple as if trying to figure out how the two possibly worked. _

"_Would you like to go?" Severus finally asked calmly and she nodded, standing up. _

"_I have to use the restroom first," she murmured before heading for the bathrooms at the back of the café. When she got to the bathroom, she quickly headed for the sink and pulled the faucet. After the water had been running for a few seconds she cupped her hand under the flow and gathered some before splashing her face with it in hopes to rid herself of the growing sensations to kiss the man who had been sitting across from her. _

"_Come on, Steph," she muttered to herself. "It's the same man you met three years ago. Nothing's changed."_

_Except of course the fact that she was now attracted to her Overseer…_

"_Oh great," she groaned before wiping her face leaving the bathroom. _

"_Hey."_

_Stephanie turned to see a young man appraising her from a table nearby. He was handsome with perfectly tanned skin and carefree hazel eyes. She bit her lip and looked around the café._

"_Your bodyguard left, if that's who you're looking for," the man commented. _

_Stephanie sized him up for a moment before pointing to the café entrance. _

"_I should probably go find him," she replied politely, but from the looks she was getting, she could tell that the man had other things on his mind. _

"_Are you two together?" he asked curiously. _

_The young woman hesitated before biting her lip and glancing over to the door. _

"_Um… no, we're not… he's just a… um… friend," she muttered unconvincingly, not that the man cared. _

"_Well, I'm sure your _friend_ wouldn't mind if you had a drink with me?"_

_Stephanie shook her head. _

"_I don't think that's such a great idea… I'm not in the best position to get into a relationship," she told him carefully. _

_This time, the man actually stood up and approached her, eyeing her with special interest. _

"_And why is that?"_

_She shrugged, backing up a little from him. _

"_It's complicated," she replied. _

_He reached up to take her hand. _

"_It doesn't have to be," he said. _

_Suddenly a pale hand shot out and snatched the man's hand, crushing it and making him wince in pain. _

"_Yes it does," Severus growled, letting go when the man was on his knees. He grabbed Stephanie by the arm and dragged her out of the café, eyes cold and unfeeling. They walked along the warm streets of Cairo in a steely silence. Stephanie flinched occasionally when his grip on her arm tightened too much, but said nothing as he led the way to her apartment buildings. _

_This was not the first time Snape had acted this way. There had been several other occasions where he had come to visit and become aggressive when she had been approached by other men. At first, especially when she was younger, she had blown it off as a protective brother reaction and for a while it probably was. But as she had grown older and they had become closer, making his reactions seem less older brotherish and more of something else she had been trying to avoid. _

_The Overseer was supposed to be a relative for a reason…_

_To form a romantic connection with your Overseer could be disastrous if a telepath ever switched…_

"_Do you wish to have had another Overseer, Warner?" Severus asked when they finally approached her flat._

_Biting her lip, she glanced over at him. _

"_I wish my Overseer was a relative, yes," came her muttered response. _

"_Why?"_

"_Because then things wouldn't be so complicated," she answered when they reached her door._

"_How are things complicated?"_

_She turned to face him and that's when she realized how close he actually was. She hesitated for a moment before speaking; enraptured by his piercing black eyes. _

"_I… um…things are different… between us," she stuttered._

"_How?" he asked curiously, making things a lot more difficult for her to speak as he took a sure step closer. This only made her back up into the door, which trapped her. _

"_Severus," she whispered cautiously. "We shouldn't…"_

_Too late._

_His lips made contact with hers and she momentarily forgot what she was going to say as his cool hands moved up and cupped her face delicately. She stood there for a moment, her arms hanging limply at her sides before she reached up and covered his hands with hers, allowing him to kiss her firmly. _

_Her heart began to beat erratically as the reality of the situation finally dawned on her. She squeezed her eyes shut as flashes of blinding white light filled her mind with quick jolts of pain. Her grip on Severus's hands tightened before she began to pull away. However, as she did so, his lips began to move down her jaw to her neck, nipping her skin aggressively. _

What?

_Something was wrong…_

_He began to push her up against the door, increasing his onslaught on her neck and it was then that Stephanie realized that something was definitely wrong. _

This isn't how it happened…

They had said goodnight and she had gone into her flat…

_Then why was he biting her neck and forcing himself upon her?_

"_Severus, stop," she gasped, trying to push him away. "Stop it!"_

_A low hiss erupted from his throat and her eyes grew in shock and pain. She summoned all of her strength and shoved him away from her, slapping a hand to her throat where she could feel a warm sticky substance start to pour from a deep cut. _

"_Severus, what…" she stopped at that when she saw something that instilled more fear into her. _

_His eyes were no longer black, but blood red and he was baring needle sharp fangs. A tongue flicked in and out of his gnashing mouth as he released another deep-throated hiss. _

"_Oh my-"_

_Then he attacked._

"NO!"

Stephanie sat straight up from the couch she was lying on, looking around wildly as her heart pounded madly against her ribcage.

_Ssssssssssssss!_

She looked down and screamed, falling off of the couch upon seeing Nagini staring menacingly at her.

The Death Eaters watching her laughed as she pushed herself up against the wall, gasping desperately for air as fear began to grip her.

"No, I don't think Severus would ever do that to a woman," came a chilling voice from the other side of the room.

Stephanie bit her lip and peered over the sofa to see Voldemort sitting in a deep armchair regally, eyes fixed on her. Malfoy was standing nearby. Nagini slithered off of the couch and over to Voldemort.

"Was that your first kiss?" he asked mockingly.

She remained silent, moving over to the corner of the room where she could keep a better eye on the evil.

"Stay out of my dreams," she whispered.

Voldemort stood up and approached her.

"Why? They're so fascinating," he hissed. "So… _revealing_…"

Stephanie backed up as far away from him as she could, trying to ignore the fear running rampant through her veins.

"Stay away from me," she murmured, standing up and pressing herself to the wall.

"I control you," he growled, his eyes running down her body before he cornered her completely, blocking her from the others' sight.

"Please, stop," she begged, closing her eyes when she felt a hand move up her neck and behind her head, grabbing a vicious hold of her hair. He leaned in to her ear.

"Tell me where Potter is," he growled into her skin, causing her to shiver under his words.

"You don't own me," she whimpered.

"Tell me," he snarled.

"You don't-"

He whirled her around and threw her into the couch, causing it to topple over and making her scream in pain. She tumbled into a small table and yelped again. She clutched her head in pain and released numerous sobs before shrieking in unbearable pain when Voldemort whipped out his wand and hissed a curse at her.

Malfoy and the others backed away, watching with mixed emotions.

On one hand, they enjoyed a good torturing, but on the other hand, she was a beautiful woman who they wanted to have a crack at.

"My Lord," Malfoy interrupted. "Perhaps you should stop!"

Voldemort released Stephanie from his wrath and turned to Malfoy, eyes blazing.

"Excuse me?" he hissed.

Malfoy glanced down at Stephanie, who was writhing on the ground and crying.

"Um… sir… Warner will not be of any use to us if she is in too much pain," he said hesitantly, holding his head up a bit higher. "She could switch or become stable… It might be better if you… _left her in my care?_"

The other men held their breath as they watched Voldemort move away from Stephanie, who was now whimpering on the floor. He approached Malfoy slowly, his red eyes narrowing.

"_Excuse me_?"

Malfoy stood up straighter.

"My Lord, if you hurt her anymore, she won't be of any use," he repeated with a bit more care.

Voldemort stared at him for a moment before turning to the others.

"Get out."

They instantly disapparated, not wanting to annoy the evil man even more by taking time to manually vacate the room. Stephanie watched as Voldemort then turned to her, eyes roving over her with mild interest.

"You have twenty-four hours to find out how to get Potter in those woods, or I'm going to make sure I have no more use for you," he growled before striding dauntingly out of the room. The large snake followed him.

Stephanie waited until he was gone before she allowed herself to cry again.

Ever since she had switched, all she had seen was death and devastation.

She didn't want to see that again.

She didn't want to see anything again…

She heard Malfoy move towards her and kneel down beside her.

"Find him, Warner," he whispered coldly into her ear.

Stephanie closed her eyes, biting her lip as she struggled not to scream.

This was all a nightmare…

And it was about to get worse…

"Please," she whispered. "If you have any ounce of pity left… please… don't make me do this…"

Malfoy grabbed her from the back of the head and pulled her hair back so that he could look into her eyes.

"_Find Potter,_" he hissed before smirking. "And then when you've found him, find Severus. I'd like to see what the prick is up to."

Stephanie released a sob as he let her go. She could feel her heart ripping itself apart before her vision was marred by blinding white light that forced a scorching jolt of pain down her spine before she opened her eyes and saw something that she wish she hadn't.

"_Hermione, how bad is it?" Ronald Weasley asked quietly, watching her with severe concern in his blue eyes. The two sat up against a large tree in the forest near six of the crates from the original nine on the wagon. Five of the crates still contained living hostages. The other one was empty. _

_The poor girl was quaking in the snow and Ronald did not look any better._

"_It's fine, Ron," she muttered, closing her eyes. "Please be quiet."_

"_Hermione-"_

"_Shut up!" Bellatrix hissed, approaching them angrily. _

Stephanie immediately felt her heart beat wildly at the presence of evil, but she was unable to pull herself out of the vision.

_Bellatrix leaned over to look the two in the eyes. _

"_You're lucky, you two," she whispered. "You get to see what's going on."_

_Ron spat in her face. _

"_Go to hell," he growled. _

_Bellatrix wiped her face slowly before standing up and taking a deep breath._

"_Ron!" Hermione screamed when Bellatrix struck him hard in the face, causing him to fall into the snow, bleeding from his eye. He began to scream out in pain when the hell bound vixen slammed the back of her boot heel into Ron's eye. "Stop it!" she cried. "Stop!"_

_Bellatrix obliged, stepping away from Ron's writhing body and a sobbing Hermione. The woman looked down at her bloody heel and pouted. _

"_Son of a bitch," she muttered, turning to the others. "He ruined by boot."_

_The other Death Eaters laughed nervously, staring at the place where Ron's eye was supposed to be and the bloodstained snow that seemed to grow around the redhead's face. Hermione dragged herself around his body to his head, reaching out with both hands and touching his face. _

"_Ron," she cried. "Oh my God, Ron!"_

Stephanie wanted this to stop.

She wanted to get out but there was one more thing that she had to see before she could…

"_Attention!" one of the Death Eaters suddenly snapped and Hermione looked up to see Voldemort approaching the area. He ignored the two agonizing teens by the tree and walked right up to Bellatrix, who smiled at him. _

"_My Lord," she said silkily. _

_He pointed to one of the boxes. _

"_Malfoy is working on the telepath," he said. "I want to put more pressure on Potter. He needs to know what's going to happen if he doesn't come out."_

_Bellatrix's smile widened and she nodded eagerly. _

"_Certainly. Any particular one?"_

_Voldemort's eyes finally fell on Hermione and Ron. _

"_Do you have any kids?"_

Stephanie gasped in torturous pain and she threw up on the carpet. Malfoy moved away from her, disgusted.

"What did you see?" he demanded.

She closed her eyes.

"Please… don't…"

"Tell me what you saw!"

Stephanie looked up at him, pain throbbing in her eyes.

"Death… all I ever see is death…"

* * *

George, Lee and Fred walked along the cold, rainy London streets, following closely behind Moody as they headed towards the same square that Kingsley's rally had been at. A few other Aurors were also trailing behind, but they were all pretty quiet as they moved through the people on the sidewalk who were also heading in the same direction as the wizards were. Bill, Charlie and Mr. Weasley were also close by, scanning the area with a careful eye. In the distance they could hear sirens blaring through the slushy ice and snow that fell from the sky.

"Have you seen Alicia?" Lee asked quietly, glancing over at Fred briefly.

George shrugged.

"I tried Flooing her a couple of times, but she won't answer," he replied, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "She's been avoiding me since the hospital…"

Lee looked around the street.

"She'll come around," he whispered. "Katie told me she's just a bit scared."

George frowned.

"Are you two still getting married?"

Lee shook his head.

"No… we're going to wait," he muttered. "She wants to see what happens…"

"That's smart," Fred said, causing them to look at him as they continued to walk.

A pained look appeared on George's face, but he chose not to say anything as they reached the crowded square. They saw the police cars and ambulance near the center of the square while bystanders strained to see what was going on. Moody motioned them to the side near the columns and waited until they could not be heard.

"Okay, we've got a dead muggle out there and the muggle police are giving us hell about letting us look at it," he growled. "We need to get as much information from that body before the muggles screw it up."

Mr. Weasley frowned.

"Why would Voldemort put the body here? Why not at the Ministry?" he asked.

Moody shook his head.

"The Ministry is way too guarded for that again," he replied grimly. "Besides, he wants London to see what's going on."

"How are we going to get to the body?" one of the Aurors asked. "There are police and onlookers all over the place."

Moody glanced over at the twins and Lee.

"I was hoping you three would be able to help us out with a distraction," he said.

George and Lee turned to Fred, who had been standing idly by. It was obvious that Fred still had not gotten over Angelina's death and that bothered the two very much. Perhaps this was just the thing he needed to bring some life back to him.

"Um… we'll try," Lee muttered, watching Fred with concern.

George coughed.

"I think we can think up a few things to distract these people," he said before taking Fred by the arm and leading him into the large crowd with Lee following close behind.

The rest of them waited until the three were gone before they turned to Moody.

"Okay, we're going to have to move quickly once-"

"Oh my God!" a woman shrieked and they all turned to see what the commotion was.

"What the hell is that?" Bill gaped, backing up with the others.

At first it was hard to see what it was that was swooping down towards them from the stormy sky, but after a moment, it became all too clear that something extremely bad was about to happen.

Moody turned to Mr. Weasley.

"Is this their idea of a distraction?" he demanded angrily. "What the hell are they trying to do, kill us all?!"

There was a blazing roar that shook the foundations of the building they were near and in that moment, pandemonium broke loose.

A dragon…

It had to be a dragon…

And not just any dragon…

It had to be Horntail dragon…

"RUN!"

They turned to see Fred, George and Lee shoving their way through the hysteric crowd, eyes wide with fear.

"What the hell did you do?!" Charlie shouted as they continued to back away from what was approaching them much quickly from the sky.

"We didn't do anything!" George snapped breathlessly. "We were going to set off some fireworks not bring a bloody fire starter!"

"Oh my God!" someone else shrieked and they all saw the large beast land in the streets, releasing chilling roars as it flapped its wings and spewed fire at the crowds of terrified people.

"Charlie! Can you do something?" Moody demanded.

Charlie's eyes grew.

"WHAT?! Are you crazy? That thing is probably being controlled by Voldemort," he yelled above the screams. "I get anywhere near that thing and I'll get charbroiled!"

_GRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!_

They all disapparated right before a scorching fireball slammed into the wall behind them, sending three other people into intense and unimaginable agony.

* * *

When they arrived in front of Grimmauld, they immediately headed for the house.

_GRAAAAHHH!_

"Oh shit!" Bill yelped, pointing above the houses to where another dragon crouching on the roof, eyeing them with blazing orbs.

"GET IN THE HOUSE!" Moody roared before the thing released a rain of flames on them. They ran to the door and burst through.

* * *

Ginny walked around her room, holding Darcy in her arms and humming to herself to pass the time. She held the mirror Harry had given her in one of her hands, staring at it intensely while Viorel and Roxanne were sitting perfectly still on her bed, murmuring to each other in low tones that she could barely hear.

She didn't mind.

Darcy stretched up to her face and licked her cheek with questioning eyes and she sighed.

"I don't know where Hermione is," she whispered. "I'm sure she's fine though."

The skyfox tilted its head to the side as if to ask her a follow-up question and she shrugged.

"I don't know what's going to happen," she told the creature.

"Ginny?"

She looked down at the mirror in her hand and she smiled broadly to see Harry staring up at her, a look of relief on his face.

"Hey Harry," she whispered. "Are you okay?"

He nodded.

"Fine. We're all fine… just came in from some training, actually," he said, glancing over to Darcy, who was pawing at the mirror. "Nice."

Ginny looked down at Darcy and pulled him away from the mirror and pushed him up onto her neck so that she could hold the mirror a bit better. Darcy curled around her neck and released a squeak, making Harry smile.

"How are you? What's going on?" he asked.

Ginny glanced behind her to the vampires, who were staring at her as well. She bit her lip.

"Roxy's pregnant," she replied.

"What?" came Harry's predictable reply.

The redhead shrugged.

"Apparently vampires can get pregnant for two weeks," she said. "They become mortal so that they can hold the baby and then after two weeks they become immortal again… it was really weird to be honest. The other female vampires tried to attack her."

"Really?"

Ginny nodded.

"We don't know what we're going to do with the baby yet… the vampires haven't told me anything yet," she told him.

Harry frowned.

"Why not?"

"Because we have to be careful about whom we tell. Certain things are meant to be secret," Viorel hissed from his spot on the bed.

Darcy released a low growl but did nothing as the tall vampire stood up, his eyes narrowing on the creature. Roxanne grabbed Viorel's arm, but it was obvious that Viorel had not realized she had touched him until she uttered a gasp at how cold he was. He turned to look at her and a strange look washed over his face before he sat back down on the bed and they once again began talking to each other quietly.

The young woman hesitated before turning to the mirror, biting her lip.

"It's pretty tense in here, as you can tell," she muttered before sitting down in a small chair. She hesitated for a moment before sighing. "Harry… they found a body…"

His eyes grew instantly.

"Ron or Hermione?"

She shook her head.

"Kingsley said it was a muggle," she told him. "Everyone went to go see what was going on."

"You're by yourself?" Harry asked quickly and she shook her head again.

"No, mum's here with a couple of Aurors. The rest of the vampires went back to the safe house."

"Are you okay?"

Ginny felt her heart flutter at his concern and she gave him a small smile.

"I'm fine, Harry," she whispered. "I'm more worried about you. You're the one who has to save the world…"

Harry snorted.

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me," he grumbled. "I don't have enough reminders as it is."

Ginny touched the mirror lightly.

"I like to remind you," she whispered. "It makes things real."

Harry stared at her silently for what seemed like forever before he looked away from the mirror briefly. He waited a minute and frowned.

"Look, Gin," he whispered. "I've got to go now… Dumbledore wants us to move sites…"

Ginny nodded.

"I'll talk to you later, okay?" she asked hopefully.

His eyes returned to the mirror and he offered her a wan smile.

"Definitely," he said somewhat impatiently. "Love you."

Before she could respond, his face disappeared and she was alone in the room with the two vampires and the skyfox. Her heart swelled at his parting words and she carefully tucked the mirror into her pocket so that she would not lose it.

"What did he say?"

Ginny and Viorel turned to Roxanne, who was still sitting on the bed. Viorel's eyes once again clouded over with concern and it became apparent that he was keeping something from Ginny. Roxanne caught the look Viorel gave her and bit her lip.

"Perhaps we should tell her," she whispered. "She could help, Viorel."

"That's not a good idea," he whispered. "We can find someone else."

Roxanne stood up.

"I will not have some woman I don't trust wander this country with my child," she hissed.

Ginny suddenly felt lost.

"Wait, rewind," she said. "What?"

Viorel and Roxanne shared an intense look before he released a growl and began to pace the room like a wild animal, making Ginny nervous. Roxanne watched him for a moment before she motioned for Ginny to sit down beside her. The teen got up and sat down on the bed, pulling Darcy from her neck into her lap. Roxanne, contrary to her former self, hesitated for a moment before she spoke.

"You remember how I told you that I had two weeks before I turned immortal again?" she asked.

Ginny nodded.

"Yeah, but I don't understand what you just said," she muttered.

Roxanne continued to watch Viorel pace as she spoke.

"Once a female vampire has been on the world for fifty years, she regains the ability to bear children. On average, a female vampire can get pregnant five to six times a year," she explained.

Ginny's eyes grew.

"Five to six times?" she gasped.

Roxanne gave her a look that clearly told her not to interrupt and Ginny's lip slipped into a thin line.

"The thing about that is that we can't carry a child for more than two weeks. We have to find a… a _host_ for the baby if we want to keep it," she whispered.

Ginny frowned.

"I don't get it. What do you mean, you have to find a host?"

Viorel stopped pacing and turned to them.

"In a week and a half, her organs will shut down again, she will be immortal and the baby will die. In that time, she can die which means that the baby can die," he hissed irritably. "The only way that baby can live is if it is transferred to a mortal host so that it can grow."

Suddenly Roxanne's words made sense to her…

_I will not have some woman I don't trust wander this country with my child…_

"Oh my God… you… you want _me_..." she gasped.

Roxanne's eyes filled with tears and she reached out to take Ginny's hands.

"Ginerva," she whispered. "We can't force you-"

"We _won't_ force her," Viorel growled. "She's too much of a risk!"

Roxanne turned to Viorel.

"There's no one else!"

"We can find someone else!" he retorted.

"I want this baby!" she cried desperately before snapping her mouth shut. Tears spilled from her eyes and she gasped as she reached up to feel them.

She hadn't cried in seventy years…

Viorel and Ginny stared at her for a moment before Viorel moved over to her in a flash and kneeled down in front of her, taking her warm hands in his lifeless ones.

"Roxanne, I'm sorry," he whispered. "I want the baby too… but Ginerva's blood…"

When the tears continued to flow, he leaned up and brushed his lips against hers comfortingly. Ginny bit her lip, her mind going over everything that could go wrong with what she was about to say.

"Does it hurt?"

Viorel turned to Ginny, eyes wide.

"Ginerva, we cannot ask you…" he trailed off, his eyes traveling away from Ginny and up to the ceiling. He became so still that even the inanimate objects seemed to move a bit. Ginny frowned and stood up.

"What is it?" she asked.

Viorel's head tilted to the side so that he could hear what was going on above them.

"Something's coming," he murmured coolly.

Roxanne reached out and touched his face.

"Viorel, what is it?" she asked fearfully.

Without looking at her, he surrounded himself with a veil of ghastly blackness before he disappeared. Roxanne looked up at ceiling in worry while Darcy started to growl more, stretching up so that he sat up right on her shoulder, resting his forepaws on top of her head, staring at the ceiling as well.

Ginny was about to ask what was really going on when Viorel reappeared, eyes blazing.

"Get downstairs now," he growled heatedly.

Roxanne bit her lip.

"Viorel-"

"GET DOWNSTAIRS!" Viorel snarled, moving over to the door and practically yanking it off of its hinges. "_Je ne vais pas vous demander à nouveau_!"

Roxanne looked terrified and Ginny was upset.

"Vi, what's going on?" she asked.

To answer his question, the roof shook from the impact of something large landing on it. They all looked over to Viorel.

"What was that?" Ginny demanded.

Viorel looked up at the ceiling again, his face growing more emaciated by the second and his eyes sunk further into his skull.

"_Get downstairs now_," he hissed. "_Or I'll force you downstairs._"

Roxanne took a step towards him.

"Viorel-"

He released a deep throated snarl that shook the walls before he lunged at the two of them and grabbed them around the waist and threw them over his shoulder aggressively. He strode out of the bedroom and moved with rapid speed down the stairs and into the living room. Mrs. Weasley was already coming out of the kitchen with a couple of Aurors, having heard the ruckus that had happened upstairs.

"What the hell are you doing?" she demanded upon seeing her daughter on his shoulder. "Put her down!"

Viorel obligingly dumped the two on the ground before turning to the Aurors.

"Take them back into the kitchen and stay there until I come back," he growled.

Roxanne looked up at him with fear in her eyes.

"Viorel, what's going on? What's on the roof?"

The front door burst open and soon the hallway was packed with shouting, wet people.

"There's a dragon on the roof!"

**A/N: Hey, so yes, this was a **_**very**_** interesting chapter in which almost everyone is involved in some strange way. I know some of you still have some questions about the whole vampire pregnancy thing and please feel free to ask them, but I won't be able to answer them just yet so please be patient about that. I've got a certain amount of chapters I can squeeze in before I ****absolutely**** have to write the final scene between Harry and Voldemort and I have to get some things in there before that so please bear with me. Thanks! R/R!!!**

**OzDust:** That would be really awkward if it was Ginny I was talking about. Yes, the vampire is pregnant and yes everyone else is crazy and yes, I explained absolutely nothing about a vampire pregnancy, but I will. Hope you do well on your exams! Don't fail because of me!

**Blue Leah:** Well then, I'm glad you found it interesting, though I think this chapter was a bit more interesting, if I do say so myself.

**Jenny:** Alive, but now in enormous amounts of pain. As for Ginny, she's got other things to worry about. Oh don't condemn them yet! We haven't even got to the real battle scenes! Cheer up!

**wow60:** Yes, yes, you were right, you can have a moment of "Yes, I knew it!" Hermione _definitely _loves Ron more than Curtis. She loves Curtis like she loves Harry.

**mgmve2008:** Ugh, I hate when that happens when I'm answering reviews, so I started writing my answers on the same word document as the story so I wouldn't lose my responses. As for Patrick, I thought I'd just sort of bring him back for story's sake. I think Bellatrix is stealing Hermione's will to live by screwing with Ron. I don't want to over dramatize the relationship between Harry and Ginny.

**Mae Silverpaws:** I hope this was both informative _and_ fast paced.

**nextbestthing****:** I was pleasantly surprised to see your message when I checked my email! Of course I'm not going to expect such a fast response, but thanks for that! Don't worry about updating quickly. Take as long as you need and I hope you do well on your papers! Thanks again!

**rhr4eva****:** No one's going to die any time soon! At least I don't think…

**No Chapter Tease.**


	37. On Your Mark

_When there is pain, there are no words. All pain is the same._ **-Toni Morrison**

* * *

Ginny clutched Darcy tightly as she huddled in the corner of an alley with Bill, Charlie and Roxanne, who, for the first time, was terrified and freezing cold. Darcy was groaning pitifully in the torrent rain, digging his claws into Ginny's shirt and skin.

Grimmauld Place was completely destroyed and they had all been split up before the dragon could be dealt with, which meant that some poor muggle was about to wake up to a very hot, very unpleasant surprise.

Bill and Charlie had managed to grab hold of Ginny and Roxanne before getting out of the house and disapparating into their current location within London. Now they stood in the alley, trying to get their bearings and figure out where to go next. Unfortunately, Ginny had left her wand back in her room, so there was no way for her to protect herself.

Charlie's first idea was to head to the Ministry, but then Bill pointed out that if they arrived at the Ministry with a _pregnant_ vampire and Harry Potter's girlfriend, things would only get worse for them, especially when they would have to explain what happened to Moody and the large dragons that seemed to be terrorizing the city.

Going to the Ministry would _not _be the best idea.

"So what are we going to do? Just stand here and wait for it to stop raining?" Ginny hissed from her spot near a large pile of what looked to have once been pizza boxes, but now looked like a very unnatural black blob that reeked of salami and goat cheese.

Bill glanced over at her.

"Shut up, Ginny," he hissed. "You're not helping."

Ginny's eyes widened.

"Shut up?! We're standing in an alley in the rain while London tears itself apart and you want me to shut up?! I want to get out of here!"

Charlie noticed that Roxanne's eyes had closed and her breathing had become more labored and he frowned.

"Um… shut up! The vampire's hyperventilating," he muttered warily, taking a tiny step away from the woman. He was not yet certain that all of her vampire like traits had been stripped from her due to the pregnancy and her unusual behavior since they had left Grimmauld had not proven him otherwise.

Ginny bit her lip and touched Roxanne's arm.

"Roxanne, what's wrong?" she asked with concern.

The young woman glanced over to the entrance of the alley, where people were hurrying by quickly with their umbrellas, oblivious to those freezing a few meters away. She flinched at the sound of thunder and the sight of lightening before she closed her eyes, trembling against the cold wall.

"I'm fine…" she muttered. "It's just… it's been a while since I've… I've been afraid. I'm sorry… the baby…" Her eyes flickered over to Ginny briefly, noticing the worry in her eyes. Roxanne then tried to offer a comforting smile, but failed miserably. "It's okay… it's just that these mortal emotions… are hard to control… I've forgotten how close death actually is," she managed to say before she looked down at her hands and began muttering incoherently to herself.

Ginny looked over at her brothers, who were watching the mortal vampire with extreme apprehension.

"We need to get out of here," she whispered, pulling Darcy closer to her as she spoke. "We can't stay here much longer. Roxanne's vulnerable and so are we if we continue to stay as well."

Charlie and Bill sighed, exchanging glances.

"We don't have anywhere to _go_, Ginny," Bill whispered, pulling them further into the alley so that they could avoid being seen by any passerby who happened to look their way. "We can't go to the vampire hide out because _she_ can't take us there anymore and we can't just wander around London because you and I both know that Death Eaters are looking for you and anyone else associated with Harry."

"Oi! What the hell are you two doing to those two girls?"

They turned to see three police officers standing at the front of the alley with a young couple who had apparently seen them a few minutes ago and had obviously assumed the worst.

"Step away from the girls now!" one of the men shouted. "Now!"

Darcy released a low growl while Charlie held up his hands.

"Uh, look, this is all a misunderstanding," he said through the rain. "They're with us!"

"We'll be the judge of that! Step away from them!" the policeman snapped, glaring at the two redheads. "NOW!"

Roxanne was full-blown hyperventilating now and it seemed as if her chest were about to burst at any second as fear flooded her eyes. It was a feeling she was not at all used to and now that it was pumping through her veins, she could not stop it. Whimpers escaped her lips as she clutched her stomach as it churned nauseously.

Ginny knew something bad was happening to the vampire and knew that they had to get out of the situation before things got worse.

"We need to get out of here, Bill," she hissed.

He started to move towards her, but the policeman took out his gun and pointed it at them.

Unfortunately, the three siblings had never had a chance to learn much about guns and Roxanne, who had spent the better half of World War II avoiding guns, was too frightened by death to warn the three about what could happen.

"Stop right there!" the men shouted. "I SAID STOP!"

Charlie moved towards the policemen, taking out his wand as he moved, hoping to distract the muggles while Bill got away with the two others. However, it seemed that ever since the dragon attack, the police seemed to be on high alert for _any_ suspicious behavior and were to deal with it as if it were an extreme danger.

"Look, just listen-"

_Bam! Bam!_

"CHARLIE!"

"_BOMBARDA!_" Bill roared, blasting the policemen back into the street before running up to grab his brother, who was lying on the ground, bleeding from his chest.

"CHARLIE!" Ginny screamed while Roxanne cowered pitifully in the corner, sobbing and curling herself up into a ball. Ginny dropped Darcy and ran over to her fallen brother, tears streaming down her face. "Charlie!"

"He's bleeding everywhere! We need to get him out of here!"

Ginny looked up at her brother.

"What about Mungos?! Why can't we go there?!?" she shrieked.

"The hospital isn't safe!"

"HE'S GOING TO DIE!"

_BAM! BAM!_

They looked up to see that the police were running towards them again. Bill looked around and saw Roxanne in the corner, crying harder than ever.

"ROXANNE! GET OVER HERE NOW!"

_BAM! BAM!_

"NO!" Roxanne screamed. "NO! NO!"

Ginny made a break for Roxanne and grabbed the poor woman by the arm.

"We have to get out of here!" she screamed. "We have to leave!"

"I don't want to die!" Roxanne sobbed. "I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

Bill dragged Charlie to the back of the alley, pointing his wand at the entrance in case someone entered. Right now, all he could hear was random firing through the rain and debris.

"We need to leave _now!_" he yelled.

Ginny shook her head.

"Roxanne's terrified! She won't move!"

Bill rounded on his sister.

"Then we have to leave her! I'm not going to lose my brother because a vampire suddenly grew a sense of fear!" he growled, grabbing hold of Ginny's arm and Charlie's arm, preparing to disapparate.

_BAM! BAM!_

"AHHHH!"

"Roxanne!" Ginny screamed, watching in horror as Roxanne fell to the ground, clutching her side. She was sobbing hysterically in uncontrollable pain as she bled onto the trash and grime. Ginny tore away from Bill and grabbed hold of Roxanne, trying to pull her up as she shrieked with an excruciating sensation she had not felt in so many years. "Oh my God, she's bleeding!"

Bill shot curses at the police officer before turning to the two in the corner.

"We have to leave!" he yelled as he struggled to stop Charlie's bleeding.

"You can't apparate with all of us!" Ginny cried.

Roxanne released another blood-chilling shriek as she writhed around on the ground.

"NO!" she screamed. "NO!"

Ginny pressed her hands to the wound, trying to stop the bleeding as well as she could while avoiding the hail of bullets that suddenly shot down the alley towards them.

"_REDUCTO!_" Bill screamed. More screams could be heard as muggles tried to run out of the way while the police fired at the presumed assailants in the alleyway.

"GINNY WATCH OUT!" Bill yelled and Ginny dropped to the ground in time to avoid being hit by the second barrage of fire. Roxanne released more screams as she was struck once in the shoulder and once between the ribs, close to her lungs and heart. She started coughing up blood and crying even more.

She wanted to get out of this!

She wanted it to stop!

The pain was too much!

And the baby…

"Bill, she's dying!" Ginny cried.

"Then we have to leave her here! Charlie's dying!" Bill bellowed. "GINNY!"

He reached out and yanked Ginny to him, holding her as close as he could as she struggle to get away.

"NO!" Ginny screamed. "We can't leave her!"

"Ginny! We have to go!"

_BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!_

"_ROXANNE!_"

It was like an earthquake passed through the alley before a black cloud filled the area ominously. Roxanne released a wracked sob when they all saw Viorel appear from the black haze with Constantine and two other large vampires, whom immediately turned to the attacking muggles. Viorel's eyes blazed as he ran straight to Roxanne's side and touched her wounds, making her scream even louder.

"She's dying, Vi!" Ginny shouted over the thunder. "We need to get her out of here!"

Viorel looked up and shook his head.

"I cannot take her! You need to get her to the safehouse now!" he growled, holding up the wand Charlie had dropped when he had been shot. "NOW!"

Ginny nodded and grabbed Roxanne by the arm while Viorel gave them hasty instructions on how to get to the vampire household.

"GO!" he screamed. "NOW!"

Before Ginny apparated, Darcy swooped in from nowhere and snagged Ginny by the leg…

And they were gone…

* * *

The moment they arrived within the ancient Victorian style home, they were surrounded by vampires who smelt both the blood of Charlie and Roxanne. Seconds later Viorel appeared and began screaming at all of them, shaking the mansions foundations with his cavernous roars as he forced the spectators and lusters away from the two wounded.

"_GET AWAY FROM HER!"_

Constantine stepped through the doorway moments later and immediately took charge of the very hostile and fragile situation. The females were trying to get at Roxanne while the others were either getting _way_ too close to Ginny and her racing pulse or trying to have a go at Charlie, who was now lying unconscious on the freezing floor. Constantine assigned two of his closest guards to take Charlie up to a sterile room and have him checked while two others were to take Roxanne up to a quarantine room so that she would not be attacked.

Ginny and Viorel followed close behind, entering the large white room. Viorel helped place Roxanne on a stainless steel slab in the center of the room as she continued to cry and writhe around, consumed by her pain. Ginny pressed herself into the corner, gripping Darcy while she tried to drown out the screaming.

"_She's dying Viorel,_" Constantine hissed.

"_NO!"_ Viorel growled back viciously, clinging to Roxanne with a vice grip. "_She has to live!_"

"_SHE'S MORTAL!_" Constantine roared. "_You cannot save her!_"

Viorel's eyes filled with hellfire as he rounded on the Ancient and tried to attack the small child, only to be held back by the vampires who had brought her up.

"_I WILL KILL YOU!"_ Viorel shrieked. "_I WILL RIP YOUR LIMBS OFF AND CONSUME THEM!"_

Constantine's face grew sunken and ghastly as he bore perfect rows of terrifying bleached fangs. Though small, he was a nightmarish sight to behold as he glared at Viorel, who was more than twice his size.

"_SHE WILL DIE UNLESS YOU GET RID OF THE BABY!"_ he bellowed.

Roxanne released a hellish sound that reminded Ginny of a dying animal. It raised the hairs on Ginny's back and she wished she would never hear that sound again as long as she lived. Darcy whimpered pitifully from her arms as they both cowered in the corner, afraid to move.

"Don't you dare touch my baby!" the young woman managed to cry out before falling back down on the table and sobbing again.

Viorel turned to her, his entire body language changing tenderly just for her.

"I will not lose you," he whispered urgently, touching her wounds with the utmost care. "I will not let you die-"

Roxanne shook her head.

"I want this baby!" she cried. "I will not let you take it from me!"

Viorel turned to Ginny, who was still in the corner.

"_Will you take my child_?!" he demanded suddenly.

Constantine released a roar and stood between Viorel and the witch.

"_YOU WILL NOT_!" he screamed.

"_ROXANNE IS DYING_!"

"_THEN LET HER DIE_!"

Viorel looked absolutely murderous now.

"_GINERVA WILL TAKE THE BABY_!"

Constantine shook his head adamantly.

"_YOU SPILL HER BLOOD AND NOT EVEN THOSE WALLS WILL STOP THE BLOOD LUST!"_

Roxanne's sobs were starting to die down and all those without a pulse could sense her heart slowly stopping. Viorel turned to her and grabbed her face.

"Roxanne, please do not die," he begged. "Do not leave me alone again!"

She shook her head.

"I can't… the pain…"

Viorel turned to Constantine beseechingly.

"_Mon ancien, __s'il vous plaît_!" he begged. "_Do not let her die!_"

"_I will not spill Ginerva's blood!_"

Ginny stood up.

"I'll do it!" she shouted. "I'll take the baby!"

Constantine shook his head.

"_It is too dangerous! You will die before you receive the baby!"_

"Roxanne is dying!" Ginny pointed out.

"_Roxanne knew what she was getting into,_" Constantine hissed.

"_NO!" _Viorel roared ferociously. "_I WILL NOT LET HER DIE!_"

Constantine leapt upon Viorel, grabbing his neck and bringing his face down to eyelevel. Ginny could actually hear bones breaking in Viorel's body as the Ancient crushed the vampire's throat.

"_I will not allow a frenzy to initiate because your-"_

All four vampires turned with wide eyes to Ginny, who had grabbed Darcy, pulled the poor creature up to her arm and scratched herself with the creature's long, hooked claws. Ginny released Darcy, looking down at her bleeding arm before up at the salivating vampires.

"Now either you kill me or you give me Roxanne's baby so she can live!" she snapped.

There was one of the loudest shrieks that shook the house before Viorel flashed over to Ginny, grabbing her and yanking her over to Roxanne and forcing her to lay beside the dying woman. Outside, they could hear the screams of vampires, fighting to get inside for Ginny's blood.

Constantine, seeing no other option, moved to help Viorel, strapping both women down on the slab before looking down at Ginny. He carefully pulled up her shirt and rested his cold hands on her stomach; closing his eyes as the smell of her blood grew more potent and the screams from outside grew louder. For a moment he concentrated before he opened his mouth, baring pointed teeth. Ginny released a startled yelp when she felt his nails begin to dig into her skin.

The small boy's eyes opened and he looked down at her shocked eyes.

"This is going to hurt."

* * *

"Ron," Hermione whispered, a few hours after the unknown dragon attacks at London.

She and Ron were now alone in the Forbidden Forest, though Hermione was quite sure that some Death Eater was prowling around close by to watch the last few remaining boxes and Bellatrix's prizes.

Hermione was still undergoing unimaginable pain from whatever had happened before and during her transportation to the forest and was bleeding from her wrists, ankles, head and other occasional wounds that had been obtained after she had arrived to the forest. She was trembling uncontrollably and throwing up occasionally, but all of this was nothing in comparison to Ron, who had gone through hell since they had gotten there.

Ever since Bellatrix's speedy and brutal attack, Ron had not said a word and it was worrying Hermione. She knew Bellatrix had blinded him in at least one of his eyes, of that she was certain, but as to everything else, she knew nothing. She had heard him being tortured for information, but he had given them nothing and they had given him everything they had.

Now he was lying in the bloodstained snow, unmoving and unresponsive to her frequent and desperate calls.

"Ron," she tried again, shaking him roughly before she bit her bleeding lip to keep from crying again. "Please," she murmured.

She checked frantically for a pulse, but her fingers were so numb, she could not feel anything. She tried rolling him over, but he was all dead weight and she was incapable of moving him.

That was when she started crying.

"Ron, please say _something_," she begged. "Please…"

"Hermione, what's going on?"

She looked over at one of the closed boxes and let out a sigh of relief.

Curtis was still alive…

"Are you okay, Curtis?" she asked weakly.

"I… I don't know… I can't feel anything…"

"Are you bleeding?"

There was a momentary silence before he responded.

"There… there's blood… but it's frozen… I…"

"Curtis, stay with me," Hermione begged.

"I'm here," he responded feebly. "I'm just tired… where's Ron?"

Hermione looked down at Ron's prone body.

"He's here… but he's not moving…"

"He's dead?"

Hermione closed her eyes.

"I don't think so… Bellatrix… she hurt him really badly… he hasn't moved since they killed the last hostage…"

"Is he breathing?"

"I told you, I can't tell-"

"Hermione, you would see his breath if he was breathing," Curtis cut in quickly and with slight agitation.

Hermione cursed herself for her stupidity.

Of course!

She crawled over to his face again and looked down at him.

At first she could not see anything but blood and ripped skin, but then she saw a miniscule puff of crystallized air escape his lips.

He was alive…

For the moment…

"He's alive," she whispered. "He's breathing…"

There was another silence before Curtis spoke.

"What's going to happen to us, Hermione?" he asked.

Hermione reached out and touched Ron's face before she took some snow and placed it over the bloody hole where his eye used to be. A larger puff came out of his lips along with a weird sound before he fell silent and still. She bit her lip and lay down beside him, holding him as tightly as she could.

"I don't know."

* * *

It had been a whole day.

It had been a whole day since he had spoken to Ginny and it was starting to bug him a lot. That and the fact that Hermione and Ron were being tortured by Voldemort only added to his misery.

He wanted this to be over.

He wanted to see all of his friends again and know that everything was going to be okay.

He wanted to go back to Hogwarts…

He let out a growl of frustration when the mirror once again gave him his own reflection instead of the face of the one girl he wanted to see more than anything.

"Damn it," he muttered darkly.

"Harry, are you okay?"

He looked up from the mirror to see Neville watching him carefully. In the distance, Harry could see Luna practicing with Remus. Snape was nearby in a quiet conversation with Dumbledore.

"Um… I'm fine," he muttered. "It's nothing…"

Neville sat down slowly beside him, wincing from an injury he had obtained from his training.

"It's Ginny, isn't it? Has she answered?" he asked.

Harry shook his head.

"No… it's been a day…" he responded before looking up at Neville again. "I guess I'm just nervous… she's probably okay."

Neville nodded, looking out into the small field near the house they were staying at.

"She's probably really busy… especially with those dragon attacks."

"Dragon attacks?"

Neville looked surprised.

"You don't know about what happened in London?"

Harry shook his head, looking extremely worried.

"What happened?" he asked urgently.

Neville frowned.

"Your house was attacked by a dragon, Harry," he said. "London was attacked by dragons…"

"Was anyone hurt?"

Neville shook his head.

"I heard Remus talking with Dumbledore a little while ago," he explained. "He said that Moody said that everyone got out of the house before it was destroyed."

"But?" Harry muttered, knowing the expression on Neville's face. "What's wrong?"

The young man bit his lip and watched Harry carefully.

"Everyone's been accounted for except for Ginny, Bill, Charlie and the two vampires… they think they might have gone to the vampire safe house, but they're not getting any response from the site," he said before sitting up straighter. "You shouldn't worry, Harry… I'm sure she's alright."

Trying not to panic, Harry took a few deep breaths as his mind began to race.

"What if she's hurt?"

"I'm sure she's fine, Harry," Neville insisted. "Her brothers are with her and I'm sure those vampires wouldn't hurt her… right?"

"If she's bleeding enough," Harry muttered depressingly.

Neville stood up.

"Harry, you know that's not true. You know she's not dead… she probably just doesn't have time to talk to-"

"Harry?"

Both boys looked down at the mirror to see Ginny staring up at them. Harry's eyes widened as he gripped the mirror carefully.

"Ginny, are you okay? Neville told me about the dragon attacks and…" he trailed off as he leaned closer to get a closer look at Ginny. It was then that he noticed how terribly pale she was and how nervous she looked. He frowned at that observation. "Ginny, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

If anything else sparked Harry's concern, it was the guilty look on Ginny face.

"Um… Harry… is… is Dumbledore there?" she asked.

"Ginny, what's wrong?" Harry asked. "What's going on there?"

Ginny hesitated, looking around her quickly before she looked back at him.

"Uh… we're fine," she whispered. "We're all fine… I'm at the vampire safe house with Bill and Charlie… um… could you _please_ get Dumbledore… I need to speak to both of you…"

Harry glanced over at Neville, who got the idea really quickly and left to go find the Headmaster. Harry then turned back to the mirror.

"Ginny, what's going on?" he asked worriedly.

The young woman bit her lip, but did not seem too comfortable in disclosing what was happening.

"Harry," she muttered. "We… we ran into trouble… when we left Grimmauld…"

"Ginny-"

His constant questioning seemed to annoy Ginny for some reason.

"_Harry_," she snapped irritably. "Where's Dumbledore?"

"I'm right here, Ms. Weasley."

Harry looked over his shoulder to see the old wizard standing there, a smile on his face.

"I believe congratulations are in order," he commented.

Harry frowned and looked down at the mirror.

"Ginny, what's _really_ going on? What happened?"

Ginny's skin did not change color, but her eyes did swell up with tears.

"Roxanne… she was dying…"

* * *

Stephanie gasped for air as she was released from her vision. She sat on the floor for a moment, trying to regain her breath before she felt Malfoy's intense gaze on her.

"Well?"

She looked over at him, tears streaming down her face.

"He's coming… Harry's coming…" she cried. "They're preparing to leave this afternoon… Dumbledore says it has to end now…"

Malfoy smiled and stood up from his chair, motioning to the guards.

"Watch her," he ordered while he headed for the door. "I'm going to inform the Dark Lord that Potter's decided to commit suicide…"

**A/N: Okay, so I know most of you were expecting the whole Ginny thing, but I hope you liked it anyway! This was a pretty intense chapter for the most part... well, at least, _I_ thought it was pretty intense... I don't know about you people... BUT! If you do review, I will know, so REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!**

**Aaaaaah!:** I know there wasn't a lot of R/Hr in this one either, but do not worry, there will be a lot more in the next few chapters.

**MaeSilverpaws1:** Bellatrix was a bit brutal wasn't she? Ron didn't seem to take it too well.

**rhr4eva:** Well, if by okay, you mean he's breathing, then yeah, he's okay. But if by okay you mean he's going to come out of this (if he comes out of this) without some serious battle scars, then no, he's not okay. I know there's some confusion, but it will be cleared up eventually, do not worry.

**mgmve2008:** I wanted to do something interesting and I thought that was as interesting and unusual as it could get and I thought that since they were my vampires, I'd let them get pregnant and mortal and such. I liked the memory of Stephanie and Severus also, but I thought it would be cool if Voldemort was screwing with her mind at the same time. Yes, Ron and Hermione are receiving the brunt of my force, but hopefully they'll be able to survive it. As for Harry and Mrs. Weasley, I thought it would be better if they weren't there when Ginny decided what she was going to do. It would have been way too long and much to much dialogue for one chapter. I also wanted the reader to imagine Harry's response to what she did instead of me putting some stupid one sided approach to a very important decision. Though there wasn't much Ron and Hermione in this one either, I hope you liked it!

**nextbestthing:** I know you were expecting this, but did it happen in the way you were expecting it to happen? Thanks so much for the help! I wanted to put in more Harry and Ginny, but like I said in the response above, I didn't want to monopolize Harry's reaction in case everyone thought I did it wrong. But never fear, I'm pretty sure there will be a bit more H/G interaction before it's over… I think… well, you'll be the first to know, either way!

**Jenny:** It is going to be very interesting, especially since not a lot of people know about it. Nope! Curtis isn't dead yet. He's pretty resilient in this very chaotic period in his life. I think he's handling it pretty well.

**ronandmion4ever:** Oh my gosh! I cant believe I forgot to put this response in! I read it don't get me wrong, but I _really_ thought I had responded to this! Don't worry about the reviews, that happens to me all the time! I write all my responses and then press save and it logs me out. Okay, yeah, no... This pregnancy thing is definitely not going to be like Breaking Dawn (which I hated) as long as I am still breathing. Ugh! I hated that whole nonsense with the baby and Rosalee acting all bitchy and stuff. That was _annoying!_ I loved the whole thing with the Weasley twins and Lee Jordon. I thought I'd put a _bit_ of humor in a very angsty situation. I hated that thing about the mirror also, so I like to revive it as much as possible. Oh gosh, that would be amazing if you ever got to the 10,000 limit. TTFN!

**No Chapter Tease, sorry!**


	38. Get Set

_Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. _**-Isaac Asimov**

* * *

"Hermione…"

_What?_

"Hermione…"

The voice was so weak that for a moment Hermione thought it might have been her own imagination…

"Hermione…"

There it was again…

Who was saying her name?

Why couldn't they let her rest?

All she wanted to do was rest…

"Hermione?"

The voice was much more frantic now, as if the person it had come from had just come to some horrifying conclusion about the lack of response.

It was so cold…

"Hermione, are you awake?"

That was what got her up.

_She_ needed to know if she was awake…

Opening her eyes, she realized that she had fallen asleep in the snow beside Ron, who had apparently dragged himself out of unconsciousness. She slowly and painfully rose up out of the snow and looked down to see Ron looking up at her, relief flooding his bloody face.

"You didn't answer me," he managed to mumble through the frozen blood that crusted most of his head. The snow she had packed on his gored eye was still there, but stained with blood, indicating that somewhere in the time she had fallen asleep, Ron had hurt himself somehow.

No doubt she looked like hell as well to him.

"I fell asleep… I'm so tired," she whispered feebly, sitting up carefully and moving around so that his head rested in her lap. He closed his eye and took a few agonizing breaths.

"I can't feel anything, Hermione," he mumbled.

Once again tears came to her eyes and she touched his face, hating every moment that passed them by.

"It's going to be okay," she murmured. "Harry will find us…"

"It'll be too late for us…"

She shook her head.

"No," she muttered. "Don't say that… we can still make it out…"

Ron did not respond to that. Instead, he just lay there for a few minutes, morbidly pale and numb to the world around him… numb to Hermione's touch…

They were surrounded by silence and snow. Tall trees loomed over them gloomily, wind blew forebodingly and there was not a single Death Eater in sight.

Not that she could escape…

She had heard about Ginny's near miss by the train tracks. If Harry had not shown up, who knows what they would have done to her…

Hermione was not about to make a break for it… especially when she had Ron and Curtis to worry about…

"We're going to make it out of here," she repeated, mostly for herself than for Ron. "We'll make it out…"

"I love you," he murmured and Hermione closed her eyes, her heart ripping itself apart.

"Ron, don't," she mumbled. "Please don't… you can't do that now…"

"Hermione, listen to me-"

She shook her head, wanting nothing to do with this course of topic.

"No… not this," she begged. "Anything but this… we're going to make it out of here…"

"No we're not… you know we're not…"

"Ron, _please_," she cried pitifully. "Don't…"

"I love you…"

Hermione leaned to the side and threw up. She remained in that position, unable to stop the nausea that had overcome her. Tears were streaming down her face as she tried to ignore the pain that was shooting up and down her spine.

Ron somehow managed to pull himself up into a sitting position and lean against the tree, his one good eyes fixed upon the silent wooden crates.

"I'm sorry, Hermione," he muttered before falling into a tortured silence as he was forced to listen to her retch.

Hermione finally sat up beside him, trembling uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry too, Ron…"

* * *

Alicia looked up from her patient when someone began banging on the examination room door. Biting her lip and apologizing to the bleeding man, she ran to the door and opened it.

"George! What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded angrily. "I don't have time to talk. If you haven't noticed, we're busy!"

George glanced into the examination room where three other people were waiting for Alicia's help. He hesitated before pointing behind him.

"Can we talk?"

Alicia's eyes narrowed.

"Talk? I just told you I don't have time-"

"It's _important_, Alicia," he snapped irritably.

She frowned, but followed him out anyway, closing the door behind her so they wouldn't be heard. She crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him.

"George, I told you already, I'm not considering anything until the war-"

He shook his head.

"This isn't about us," he cut in with a slight twinge of pain. "It's about Harry."

Alicia faltered at this and bit her lip.

"Harry? What happened? Is he okay?" she asked.

George sighed.

"He's going to face Voldemort tonight," he told her softly.

His girlfriend remained silent for what seemed like forever before she gained control of her voice again.

"What?"

George looked down the hall to see Fred coming towards them.

"We're going to join up with Harry and the others and we're going to help him finish it," he said quietly.

Alicia watched Fred come up to them, shaking her head as the realization of George's words finally sunk in.

"So it's happening…" she murmured, blinking back the tears. "You're leaving now?"

George nodded, glancing over at Fred.

"Yeah… we're just waiting for Lee. He went to go find Katie."

Alicia frowned.

"Katie? Katie left a couple of hours ago," she told them. "She got a letter from her mother. Something happened at the house and she had to leave."

George and Fred paled.

"We were just at Katie's parents' house… nothing happened," Fred said.

Alicia's eyes widened.

"Oh my-"

"I can't find her!"

They turned to see Lee hurrying towards them, a worried look on his face.

"No one's seen her," he said. "Alicia, do you-"

Fred grabbed Lee by the arm.

"We have to leave now," he said.

"What? Why?"

George and Alicia followed behind them.

"Because Katie's been taken," George muttered.

* * *

They all landed quietly on the other side of the bridge leading to Hogwarts and ran for the cover of the trees. They hid their brooms carefully under the bushes and snow and waited calmly for the others to arrive.

Harry, Neville and Luna sat in a small clearing, huddled close together against the snow that was starting to fall again.

"You sure picked the best night to save the world, Harry," Neville muttered anxiously and Luna released a nervous giggle before falling silent and listening to the wind blow through the trees.

"I'm sorry, would you like me to reschedule with Voldemort?" Harry asked. "I'm sure he can take some time off from killing everyone until the summer."

Again, Luna laughed, but it was so forced that it made the two with her even more on edge. Neville wrapped an arm around her shoulder and she leaned into him, shivering slightly before she looked over at Harry.

"You seem very calm," she commented.

Harry's eyes met with Neville before he shrugged, looking over to where Remus, Dumbledore and Snape stood, conversing quietly.

"I suppose it hasn't really sunk in yet… I've been in positions like this before."

"Freezing your arse off?" Neville asked tersely.

Harry snorted.

"Yeah, I wish that was it," he muttered bitterly, rubbing his scar. His head had been on fire ever since he had decided to come and Dumbledore had told him that Stephanie had something to do with it. She must have informed Voldemort of his coming.

Luna noticed the tone and reached out to take his hand in hers, concern evident in her eyes.

"It'll be okay, Harry," she whispered. "If everything goes according to plan, we'll all get to live to see you freeze your arse off."

Harry nodded silently, his mind returning to Ginny. Her actions had been his constant companion since she had told him what had happened to her…

"_I'm pregnant_…"

The words that had followed had been even more surprising to Harry, not that Ginny being pregnant had not been a surprise in and of itself… but when she had said that it was the vampire's baby, he had actually dropped the mirror and almost destroyed it.

Dumbledore had taken over the conversation after that and Harry had not spoken to Ginny since…

"Are you angry at her?" Neville asked curiously, knowing to well what was plaguing his friend's thoughts.

Harry sighed.

He didn't know what he felt about Ginny's decision and with impending fight that he was about to have with a man who scared him more than anything, he wasn't exactly sure if he could feel _anything_.

Dumbledore had advised him to numb himself to his emotions because if he didn't, Voldemort would use them against him.

Besides, with his blazing scar, it was hard to think about anything else…

"I don't know," he muttered. "I don't know how to feel about it…"

Luna frowned, knowing that this was going to affect him more than he was letting on… especially in the hours to come.

"Harry, perhaps you should-"

"Harry, can I speak to you?"

Harry looked away from Neville and Luna to where Remus was standing by a large tree. He looked back at Luna, who shook her head and motioned for him to go. Nodding, he stood up and walked slowly over to Remus.

"Yes?"

Remus observed him carefully for a moment before he sighed and pointed to Neville and Luna.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" he asked softly.

Harry frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

The older man placed a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Do you know what you're doing?" he asked again.

"Yes."

Remus did not look too convinced.

"Are you sure?"

Harry backed up a little, watching Remus carefully.

"Remus, what is this about?" he asked.

The man sighed and looked around their wintry surroundings.

"In a couple of hours, a lot of things are going to be happening, Harry," he said slowly. "Everyone has their part to play, but you… you, Harry, are the only one who is going to have to make the ultimate choice to end this…" He pointed to Neville and Luna again. "Look at them, Harry… they're scared… but they're also ready to die for you… I mean… Neville and Luna are risking _a lot_ for you, Harry…" At this point, Harry grew still, the enormity of the situation finally hitting him. "We're _all_ ready to die for you, Harry… that is a sacrifice we are willing to make… is it a sacrifice _you_ are willing to make?"

Harry looked up at Remus. The words were so familiar…

"_If worse came to worse and you had to decide between saving the wizarding world and saving Ginny… which one would you honestly choose?" she asked. "And would you be able to live with that choice and more importantly… would the rest of us be able to live with that choice? You didn't choose this Harry, but if you don't decide what's really important soon, you're going to lose a lot more than your heart…"_

"Yes," he whispered, rubbing his scar again. "I am…"

Remus could see something changing in Harry and knew that he finally meant what he said…

"Okay…"

"They're here," Snape called.

Harry and Remus looked over to see several people landing by the train tracks and hurrying into the woods where they were. Harry took a deep breath and turned back to Remus.

"I guess this is it…"

Remus nodded, looking up at the sky, where it was slowly getting darker.

Soon the full moon would be out…

"I suppose it is…"

"Harry."

The two looked to see Dumbledore motioning them over. Now added to their little group was Tonks, Moody, Kingsley, several other Aurors, quite a few students and teachers from Hogwarts including Hagrid, McGonagall, Seamus, Dean, Lavender and the Patil twins, and all of the Weasleys save Ron and Charlie, who unfortunately was not well enough to fight. There were actually a few vampires lolling around, sent there to keep an eye on the bridge. They were not to help in any way with the fight to come, but they were extremely interested in the outcome. Constantine had actually invited a few local vampires along for the 'show' as he had so casually called it before they had departed from the safe house in London. There were a few others that Harry did not recognize and a couple who he did, but could not remember their names… perhaps he was too scared… or perhaps it was the sight of Ginny that froze his mind…

She was standing with Roxanne and Viorel and talking quietly with her parents, who looked deeply disturbed and with good reason. However, it seemed as if the initial shock of her actions had worn off, as it had eventually done with himself, partially due to the upcoming fight.

If it had not been for the clothes Ginny was wearing, she probably would have disappeared into the background, she was so pale. Her red hair stuck out obnoxiously from under the skull cap she wore. She looked unsettled about something.

Roxanne, who seemed to have survived the transfer as well, looked like she could care less about the situation at hand and Viorel looked like he'd rather be alone with his formally mortal partner.

Harry contemplated going over to Ginny, but after a moment, he thought better of it and walked over to Dumbledore.

"Are we going now?" he asked somewhat timidly. Those nearby could instantly tell that he was scared about what was to come and offered comfort.

"It's going to be okay, Harry," Tonks whispered. He noticed that her hair jet black for the occasion with tips of red that seemed to come and go when her eyes traveled to Remus, who was doing his best to avoid her gazes.

Harry knew things had not been easy for them, but he hoped that they would be able to live through this so that they could resolve whatever it was that was going on.

Harry's eyes fell on Ginny again.

"Yeah…" he muttered, not really focused on what had been said.

Suddenly, he desperately wanted to talk to her. He _needed_ to talk to her…

"Harry, are you paying attention?" Moody growled angrily. This was not the time to be daydreaming. "Harry!"

Harry snapped to attention and turned away from Ginny.

"What?"

"_Oh bloody hell_," an Auror swore and a few others said something of the like.

This was not a good sign.

"I thought you said he was ready," Kingsley snapped at Dumbledore, looking extremely troubled.

"Harry, you need to get your mind out of the clouds and back on the ground now!" Moody hissed. "There's no more time to be thinking things over!"

Harry stood up straighter. He did not want to show weakness to these people. Not now.

"I _am_ ready," he growled. "I'm fine."

Remus looked up at the sky again.

"We should hurry. We don't have much time to spare," he said.

Harry felt his heart jump at those words, but he tried not to show his fear.

"You have to go now?" he asked.

Remus nodded, noting the anxiousness in Harry's voice.

"No doubt, Voldemort will have Greyback prowling around," he said grimly. "I've got to find him before he finds you, Harry…" Upon seeing the pained look in Harry's face, he placed both hands on Harry's shoulders and held him firmly. He could feel his heart constricting as he thought over the words he was about to say. "I'm not going to make any promises of returns Harry," he whispered. He felt Harry tense up, but he continued. "But I will tell you that James and Lily would be so proud of you for making it this far… you survived so much Harry and have been able to keep a better mind than most." Here his eyes flashed over to Neville, who heard and tensed up as well, his fingers curling more tightly around his wand. "You've grown up to be a strong young man and I know you have the ability to defeat Voldemort, if you put your mind to it..." Here, he took a step back and held out his hand to Harry. "It's been an honor, Harry."

For a few seconds, Harry said nothing, but his eyes filled with tears. He sniffed and took the hand, shaking it firmly.

"Thank you, Remus," he whispered with conviction. "For everything…"

It was not long before everyone was coming up to Harry and shaking his hand, telling him how much they appreciated him and how proud they were of him. The Aurors saluted him and the vampires wished him a happy eternity.

The students from Hogwarts, for the most part, apologized to him for their behavior towards him throughout his stay at the school and a few of the girls actually cried and hugged him, telling him that they cared about him a lot.

His professors each gave some advice about his upcoming death match with Voldemort, giving him a few pointers on which curses and charms would be the best to use and which he should keep away from. Snape, to everybody's surprise, actually offered him some insight into the way Voldemort tended to fight and torture his opponents. Hagrid broke down and bawled as well, crushing Harry with his enormous hug before Dumbledore and Moody pried Harry away and gave him a few minutes to catch his breath and regain feeling in his arms.

When it came to the Weasleys, Harry was given some time alone to talk to them. Mrs. Weasley held him for the longest while, telling him that she always thought of him as a son and that she was glad Ron met him. She also told him that she did not blame him for what had happened to Ron or to Ginny, knowing he blamed himself a little for what had happened.

Unfortunately, just when Harry was about to head over to Ginny, Darcy flew into the group and released a sharp and piercing bark, alerting them to incomers before landing on Ginny's shoulder.

"We've got company," Bill snapped, pointing over to the train tracks, where a couple of dark figures were appearing from out of the snowy haze.

Harry turned to Ginny, who was standing a few feet away. She caught his gaze and her now distressed eyes filled with tears. He could see the pain coursing through her eyes, but he could also see something else.

Everything that had happened between them since they had first met on Platform 9 and ¾ flooded through him at that moment. All the words they had spoken and every action they had taken to get this far now seemed insignificant to what was about to happen. Ginny's actions were unimportant now and her current situation no longer mattered to Harry.

He did not care about any of it anymore…

He _couldn't_ care about it anymore…

_I'm sorry_, she mouthed, placing a hand over her stomach. _I'm so sorry_.

Harry hesitated, feeling his heart rip again.

This could be the last time he saw her…

This could be the last time he saw any of them…

He could feel everyone's eyes on him and he knew he had to go.

It would not do well to be seen so early in the game.

_I know_, he mouthed back quickly before turning and walking over to Dumbledore.

"Are you ready?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry glanced around him, meeting the eyes of Neville and Luna briefly before he nodded.

"Yeah… I think so…"

That would be the best answer he would be able to give.

And it was enough.

Dumbledore looked around the crowd, who were breaking up into their appropriate groups.

"Good luck!"

"Harry!"

He turned and almost toppled over when Ginny ran into him, hugging him tightly and burying her face in his shoulder.

"I love you," she whispered quickly.

"I love you too, Ginny," he murmured before pulling away. "I have to go."

She nodded, smiling feebly.

"I'll see you later," she muttered through the tears. "I'm expecting you to take me to the graduation ball."

Harry offered a nervous smile as he backed away from her.

"I'll try not to be late," he said, rubbing his scar again.

Ginny noticed and immediately approached him again. He stiffened when she cupped his face with her hands and leaned up to kiss him. His hands went up to grasp her waist as her cool lips brushed against his burning scar, his eyes closing under the wave of peace that cascaded over him. For a moment, he was tempted to pull her closer and kiss her, but she instantly stepped away and offered a small smile.

"Feel better?" she asked cheekily. He nodded mutely and she grinned. "Well, if you come back, I'll see if I can make the rest of you feel the same way."

Harry's eyes widened, but before he could say something there was a flash of red light and they turned to see a couple of Aurors running towards the tracks, wands drawn. Harry glanced over at Ginny, gave her a quick nervous smile before he turned and followed Dumbledore and a few others deeper into the woods. Ginny took a deep breath before she turned and moved quickly over to Roxanne and Viorel.

"You're sure this will work?" she asked worriedly.

Viorel nodded, eyes gazing lustfully past her at the fight that was occurring on the tracks.

"It will," he muttered.

Roxanne glanced over at Ginny before moving off with the other vampires.

"Please refrain from _eating_ anyone," she said over her shoulder and Ginny wrinkled her nose.

"That's disgusting," she muttered before turning to see Neville and Luna approaching her. She hesitated before offering a smile. "Don't worry, I don't bite."

Luna nodded, smiling.

"We know."

"We can't stay here anymore," Kingsley called. "Everyone needs to move out now!"

Ginny gave them both quick and gentle hugs.

"I'll see you two later," she promised before disappearing into the woods.

Luna looked up at Neville.

"Everything is going to be okay, right?" she asked.

Neville nodded slowly.

"I think so…"

Luna nodded as well and looked around.

"Good."

* * *

"Wake up, muggles, mudbloods and mudblood lovers!" Bellatrix Lestrange shouted as she strode confidently into the small clearing. She pointed to the crates. "Get them out now!"

Hermione and Ron watched her carefully as they sat up against a tree. They watched as the Death Eaters pulled the remaining people out of the crates. Ron, despite the fact that he could hardly see, noticed that several Death Eaters were starting to come back into the clearing, wands drawn.

A charged tension filled the area as snow began to fall harder and faster.

"He's here," Ron muttered.

Hermione turned to look at him, her eyes filled with hopelessness.

"What?" she asked.

"Harry," he managed before closing his eye in pain as his chest constricted and a piercing jolt shot up his spine. Hermione reached out and touched his arm.

"What about Harry?" she asked.

It took him a moment, but then he finally got over the pain his body was going through to describe the intensity that was building up around them.

"Harry… he's here… that's why they're nervous…"

"Oh my God," she gasped, tears coming to her eyes. "He's here…"

Ron watched Curtis get dragged over to another tree. He was quiet for a while, his eyes clouding over as events to come fell into place right before his very eyes… or eye…

"Hermione… I'm going to die…"

Hermione closed her eyes.

"Ron, don't," she pleaded. "Please don't… he's coming for all of us…"

Ron shook his head.

"But I'm going to die…"

"Ron, no-"

"Hermione, you need to listen to me," he hissed with a sudden forcefulness that silenced her immediately. His skull was on fire and the socket where his eye was supposed to be felt as if it had been shattered. Everything hurt. "They are going to kill me…"

Hermione shook her head.

"Ron, you don't know-"

"The moment Harry turns up, they're going to kill me," he snapped angrily, hot tears coming to his eyes. "And then they're going to torture you until Harry folds… if there is any chance for you to escape…"

She released a sob.

"Ron," she cried. "I'm not leaving you behind…"

Ron did not respond as Bellatrix walked up to them and leaned forward, looking at Ron's face with amusement.

"You know, Weasley, I can't tell if you're glaring at me or not and to be quite honest, it's turning me on," she whispered, reaching out and running a finger down his swollen and bloody face to a gash just above his chin. "I didn't hurt you too much when I hit you with my heel, did I?" When Ron did not respond, she placed her hand over his chest and tilted her head to the side. "Are you scared of me, Ronald?"

"No."

Bellatrix looked him over and he could see the fire ignite in her eyes.

"You know," she whispered. "If it weren't for that bloody eye of yours, I'd say you were worth shagging."

"Praise God," Ron growled.

A smirk appeared on the woman's face and she leaned in so that their lips were a hairsbreadth apart. Ron did not flinch and Hermione watched, trying to keep it together as much as possible.

"Praise God indeed," Bellatrix replied before leaning in and kissing him fully on the mouth. Ron went completely rigid and did not blink as Bellatrix pulled him to her, running her hands down his chest to his crotch, squeezing him tightly.

Hermione looked away, closing her eyes as she began to tremble and Bellatrix broke away from Ron, turning her attention to the younger woman.

"_Ah_, and the sweet mudblood lover's _lover_," she hissed with disgust. "You're not even that pretty."

"She prettier than you," Ron growled viciously and Bellatrix turned back to him.

"_Excuse me_?"

Ron's remaining eye looked the vixen straight on, his blue eyes void of all fear.

"You heard me."

Hermione turned to Ron.

"Ron, don't," she hissed.

Bellatrix struck Hermione in the head, causing the young woman to fall to the ground, clutching the side of her bleeding face. Ron made a move towards Bellatrix, hatred coursing through his eye, but she placed a wand to Hermione's throat, daring him to move any further.

"Go on, Weasley," she crooned. "What were you saying?"

Ron's eye landed on Hermione, who was staring up at him, pleading silently for him to stop talking. He wanted so badly to hurt Bellatrix. To make her sorry for what she'd done to them…

But he had to protect Hermione for as long as he possibly could.

"Nothing…"

A smirk appeared on the woman's face and she leaned into his ear, her lips brushing against his burning skin.

"You know what, Weasley," she murmured silkily. "You are going to die first…"

She pulled away from Ron and gave him a wink before backing away from them.

"Have a nice night," she whispered as she turned to walk away. "It'll be your last…"

**A/N: Okay, yes, I know you were expecting a bit more (especially with the whole Harry/Ginny thing), but I don't want to do too much in this chapter! That's what the next chapter is for! And trust me, it's going to be pretty cool!**

**ronandmion4ever:** I know I probably scarred you for life with my mistake, but I'm sorry! I honestly thought I had put a response out for you! Then I was rereading the chapter and was like… holy hell… I just forgot you… holy crap! So I quickly wrote my review so that you wouldn't feel like I hated you or something. BTW, you never say anything offensive, so if I happen to do something stupid like this again, it's because I'm overloaded. As for Ron being with just one eye, I think that's the last thing he's worried about at the moment and that whole thing with George and one ear, it was cool that Fred didn't make as much of a deal out of it as most people would. It was great that he and George sort of just made light of it. Betty sounds like she has some serious issues. It is definitely not going in the direction of Breaking Dawn. I thought that that book was a waste of time, with most of it being about the baby and then the rest just stressing over something that didn't happen. WASTE OF _TIME_!!! Well, now Roxanne and Viorel have no reason to stress.

**Jenny: **Of course they _need_ to escape, but as far as Ron's concerned, he's not going to make it out. As for Harry, I'm sure a lot of you were expecting a bit more drama (maybe?) between himself and Ginny, but I thought it would be a bad idea for him and Ginny to get into that right before he and Voldemort were about to fight. Do not worry, there will be more explaining later… if they survive, of course… Ah Stephanie… she's going to play a very important role in the next chapter.

**Blue Leah:** I think he might be, but like I said before, it's the least of his problems. You'll see more of his response to bad news later.

**rhr4eva:** Yes, Ginny is having the baby, but it's not going to be like the Breaking Dawn, demon spawn baby. That was disgusting.

**mgmve2008:** Oh I love Viorel! He's always in the right place at the right time and Dumbledore is amazing! He knows everything!

**wow60:** Well, Stephanie wasn't in this chapter, but you're right about her taking crap. She's definitely going to have to do something about it. Harry too… he's like the reaper of all things crappy.

**nextbestthing:** Well, I'm glad you felt that way! I hope you liked this chapter. Thanks for everything! I loved the suggestions you offered and I'm glad you did. As for Harry and Ginny, I can't really say if there's going to be any more scenes with them in it. You'll be the first to know if there were! Besides, I think Ginny being pregnant is enough for one story. If Hermione got pregnant then things would just be… weird?

**sandy-weasley:** Thank you for the compliments, I really appreciate it. Hopefully I gave you enough R/Hr moment(s?). If not, there will be some more in the next chapter.

**CHAPTER TEASE! I KNOW! I haven't put one up for **_**ages**_** but I'm finally ahead a little so I'm going to give you one!**

"_Your friend, Harry… he's coming isn't he?"_

"_Yes," she managed to say, turning her attention back to Voldemort and Bellatrix. "He's coming…"_

"_You don't seem too happy," Curtis said before coughing up blood. _

_Hermione closed her eyes briefly, trying to block out the sound. _

"_They're going to kill Ron…" she whispered. "They're going to kill him…"_

**Okay, so it wasn't the most interesting chapter tease, but everything else that I could have picked gave away the chapter and I didn't want to necessarily do that. **

**Enjoy and R/R!**


	39. Go, Remember Your Cause

_I think somehow we learn who we really are and then live with that decision._ **-Eleanor Roosevelt **

_The most decisive actions of our life ... are most often unconsidered actions._ **-André Gide**

**A/N: I couldn't decide, so I picked both quotations! Enjoy!**

* * *

There was too much going on.

All over the forest, fights had broken out as the war was closely reaching its climax and they were all surging through Stephanie's mind at top speed.

She felt bombarded.

She felt smothered.

But she could not pull herself out of it.

He would not let her.

"Where is Potter?"

Stephanie opened her eyes and looked up at Malfoy.

"He's in the woods… I don't know where he's going…"

Malfoy looked over at the Dark Lord.

"Probably heading towards Bellatrix and the hostages," he offered. "Should she search harder?"

Voldemort shook his head slowly, staring out the window towards the woods.

"No need," he whispered calmly, though his red eyes were dark and filled with hatred. "I can sense him." He then turned to Malfoy. "The moon will be showing in a few minutes. Send out Greyback."

Malfoy gave a curt nod to one of the Death Eaters in the corner and the man left quickly.

"What about Warner?"

Voldemort's eyes flickered to her quickly before he returned to staring out the window.

"Have her taken into the woods to Warrington's camp. I want to know what's going on all around me when this happens."

"Yes, my Lord," Malfoy whispered before grabbing Stephanie painfully by the arm and shoving her to the door. "Out you go."

When the door slammed behind him, Voldemort scanned the perimeter of Hogsmeade, his entire being charged with an energy he had never felt before. He could feel power coursing through his veins and he knew that his hatred for Potter was the only thing that mattered now.

"I'm coming, Harry," he hissed, turning to leave the room. "And I'm going to kill you."

* * *

"Do you smell that?"

Fred and Lee looked back to where Alicia and George were standing, a few meters behind them.

"What?"

George sniffed around.

"That. Do you smell that?"

Fred and Lee sniffed and frowned.

"George, I don't smell anything," Lee muttered irritably.

They were supposed to be heading for Hogsmeade to find Katie, but George was holding them up. This was not the time to be playing 'guess that smell'.

Alicia shook her head.

"No, I smell it also… what _is_ that?" she asked, looking around.

"What does it smell like?" Fred asked as he and Lee backtracked towards the couple.

George looked around and began moving to his left, away from Hogsmeade.

"I don't know, but it's not normal," he said.

Lee glanced behind him in the direction of Hogsmeade.

"Well, we've no time for that! Katie could be hurt, George," he growled. "Come on!"

Alicia looked over at them and froze.

"Don't move," she hissed.

They all looked around instantly, wands at the ready. Alicia shook her head.

"Stop moving!" she snapped angrily. "They'll see you!"

"Alicia, what is it?"

She pointed behind Fred and Lee and they turned to see a procession of men and women in black robes moving in the distance away from Hogsmeade. In their midst, a young woman was being dragged.

Whether or not she was unconscious was hard to tell, but it was easy to make out Malfoy, who was heading the group.

"Death Eaters?" George asked, approaching Fred and Lee with Alicia close behind him. Lee nodded and started to head for the group, but Fred stopped him.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"That could be Katie," Lee growled. "She could be dead!"

"Be quiet! They'll hear you," George snapped. "The last thing we need is to be attacked right now."

"But that could be Katie," Lee insisted in a much quieter, but no less angry, voice. "We need to help her."

Fred and George exchanged glances.

"We'll follow them, but we're not going to attack until we figure out where they're going. Who knows how many more of them are out there," George relented.

Alicia made a gagging noise and her face contorted into a look of disgust.

"Ugh! That smell just got worse," she muttered, looking around her quickly. "Where is it _coming _from?"

Lee was about to say something rude about the smell when a piercing howl cut through the wintry gloom that surrounded them. They all immediately looked to the direction of Hogsmeade.

"Greyback," Fred said darkly before looking up at the sky. "The moon's out."

Alicia took a hold of George's arm, moving closer to him as whatever was out there howled again. It was answered by a more mournful cry.

"Remus… I hope," George responded before pulling Alicia along. "Come on, let's follow that group. I don't want to be around when Greyback decides to pay a visit to this part of the forest."

The others agreed without delay and followed Lee's determined strides through the snow.

* * *

_The forest was virtually empty. The sounds of curses colliding and the occasional screams of dying or injured men filtered through the haze of snow that fell hard to the ground, but nothing was close enough to be worried about. _

_At least not for Severus Snape, who seemed to be striding confidently through the Forbidden Forest…_

Where was he?

_Stephanie's mind instantly did a sweep of the area and confirmed where he was. _

_But there was something else… something hidden, but still very much as tangible as the snow falling heavily upon Severus. It was following him… or was it leading him? It was very much alive, but she could sense no heartbeat. _

_Was it blocking her?_

_Yes… she could sense it shutting her out, making it impossible for Stephanie to identify it. _

_It was not evil, she knew that._

_But it was not good either._

_There was something haunting about it that sent fear running down Stephanie's spine as she continued to delve further into her vision. _

_Was it hunting Severus?_

No… he's too smart to be hunted like a wild deer… this was hunting _with_ him… they were both looking for the same thing…

_What were they hunting?_

_Well… whatever was out there was keeping out of Stephanie's sight. _

_Like it knew Stephanie was watching…_

_But what could possibly know?_

_So instead of dwelling on it, she turned her attention back on Severus, who was still walking through the woods._

_Why was he alone?_

_He stopped._

_Severus stood there and looked around, wand at the ready. _

_For a moment he stood there and then a skyfox flew into her vision and landed lightly on his shoulder. It was Lily, the skyfox Severus had obtained during the summer. _

_Lily purred lovingly and rubbed her head against the man's neck before she took off again. Severus then began to walk through the snow…_

_He was heading towards her…_

_And whatever being was in the forest was coming with him…_

The vision ended and Stephanie opened her eyes. She immediately looked to her left, eyes on the woods. Malfoy followed her gaze.

"Who's coming?" he demanded quickly. "Who?"

Tears flooded her eyes and she took a few shaky breaths before answering.

"Severus… he's coming…"

_He said who_, she told herself before her lips threatened to spill about the other thing that was also with him. _If he had said what, I would have to mention the skyfox and the other being…whatever it was…_

Malfoy laughed and turned to the other Death Eaters nearby.

"The traitor is coming!" he yelled and they all laughed, drawing their wands in anticipation. "How far away?"

"Please don't do this-"

Malfoy struck her in the face and she fell into the snow, sobbing.

"How far away?!"

Stephanie cowered on the ground, covering her head with her arms.

"Four hundred meters!" she cried. "Please, you can't kill him!"

Malfoy smirked at her.

"The hell I can't," he growled viciously. "I will _destroy_ him. He's a blood traitor who deserves to die."

Instead of arguing, she just remained where she was, too distraught and filled with pain to do anything else. She wanted it to be over. All she could see was death and she wanted it to end. She knew it would only get worse the longer she remained close to the front lines and she wanted nothing to do with it. She couldn't stand it anymore…

"There he is!"

Stephanie looked up in time to see Severus Snape enter the campsite, wand at his side.

"SEVERUS!" she screamed.

Then they attacked.

If the situation had not been so dire, she would have laughed at how easily Severus countered the attacks thrown at him and killed most of those who attacked him.

He was the worst possible person to go up against.

He knew every sort of curse they would use and knew exactly how to defend himself against it.

Nothing worked…

Except of course…

Warrington grabbed Stephanie up from the ground and held a wand to her throat.

"Drop your wand, Severus," he snarled. "Do it now, or I'll drop her! NOW!"

Severus had no emotion in his eyes as he examined the situation with care.

Two Death Eaters that he had not killed were standing beside Malfoy, wands aimed at him.

He had to do this right.

This had to be perfect.

Malfoy pointed his wand at Severus, a smirk on his face.

"My, my, Severus, it seems that you're just a bit too slow this time. You should remember that I've been watching you for a while," he hissed.

Severus looked down at Stephanie, who had tears streaming down her cheeks. He could see her pain and knew that she was seeing everything that was happening around her… he knew it was killing her…

"DROP THE WAND!" Warrington bellowed, yanking Stephanie up painfully by her hair. "DROP IT!"

"SEVERUS DON'T!" Stephanie screamed before crying out in pain when the huge man slammed her against a nearby tree. A huge gash appeared on her face and blood began to spill down her face, mixing with her tears.

Malfoy could see the rage fill Snape's eyes and knew that he had gotten through.

"Now, how about we drop that wand or shall we try another tree?"

Snape looked over at Malfoy and after a moment's thought, dropped his wand. Stephanie began sobbing even harder as her vision was quickly filled with five Death Eaters moving through the woods behind Severus, aiming to kill him simultaneously.

Malfoy glanced over at Warrington.

"Kill her and then kill him."

Then something happened that no one could explain.

A small black cloud suddenly appeared beside Warrington. It consumed him completely before it disappeared and Stephanie was released from her captive. In the woods around them, they could hear someone scream and then it went silent.

Malfoy glared at Severus.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" he demanded.

Severus smirked.

"A student of mine."

Malfoy turned to Stephanie, rage etched onto his pale face.

"A student?! What's out there?"

Stephanie shook her head, too afraid to move.

"I don't know!" she cried pathetically. "I didn't see anything!"

Malfoy was just about to grab her when the same black cloud appeared again beside Stephanie and Ginny Weasley appeared out of nowhere, a look of hatred on her paper white face.

"Warrington won't be coming back anytime this century," she hissed before disappearing with Stephanie.

Malfoy's eyes widened before he turned to Severus.

"KILL HIM!"

* * *

Stephanie looked through the trees at the small clearing where the campsite was.

"KILL HIM!" she heard Malfoy yell and she stood up in time to see the entire clearing fill up with a black haze that seemed to cast the whole forest in darkness. A chill ran up her spine when she heard people scream and then it went silent.

"Oh my God!"

It was as if someone had plunged a knife through her chest and was twisting it around viciously. Her whole body was in complete and excruciating pain.

Death would be a mercy…

Stephanie tried to breathe, but no air passed through her tortured lips as she fell to the snow, clutching her chest as she tried to make it stop.

She wanted it to stop!

A dark figure obstructed her view and for a moment, she thought it was a Death Eater, but then the person removed his hood and suddenly she could breathe.

"Finneas," she gasped out, tears running down her face. "What's happening to me?"

Finneas reached out and touched the side of her face carefully.

"You're becoming stable, Stephanie. Do not fight it," he whispered.

Stephanie closed her eyes, more pain sweeping over her.

"But Severus," she cried. "I don't want to-"

"Severus was not your Overseer. Malfoy was. And now he is dead," he whispered. "You will not forget Severus."

Stephanie released a sob before she rolled over on her side and threw up. Her mind began flashing with images of a man she was slowly beginning to forget even existed. She could feel the hurt slowly disappear as she accepted the fact that she would no longer remember this man. She did not _want_ to remember this man…

"Is she okay?"

_Severus!_

She began hyperventilating until he came into her view. He seemed calmer than she knew he was and she reached out for him to take his hand.

"Severus… it's not over…" she gasped. "I can feel it… it's not over…"

Severus looked up at Ginny, who was standing by a tree, looking more fascinated at herself than anything. Her hands were dripping with searing hot blood, but she could not bring herself to get rid of it, so she just chose to stare at it.

She had just done something unbelievable… and now, all she could feel was the blood of the men she had killed on her entire body…

There had been something exhilarating about feeling Warrington struggling one moment and then going completely still the next. The surge of power that had flooded her was still coursing through her veins and something deep inside of her wanted to have more of it…

Severus had dealt with his share of vampires and he immediately identified the look in Ginny's eyes.

"Something wrong, Weasley?" he asked quickly, eyeing her warily.

Ginny looked up at him and bit her lip, trying to keep it together.

"What?" she asked blankly.

He motioned to her blood soaked hands.

"You have a problem?"

Ginny's eyes grew at his meaning and she hesitated before answering.

"That's… that's the second time I've killed someone… it hasn't gotten any easier," she whispered shakily, looking away from Severus as she quickly began to clean her hands off in the freezing snow around her. She could feel certain instincts starting to surface within her and she had to make sure that they did not consume her before this was over. She caught the knowing look Snape was giving her and she moved faster, not wanting to give him the benefit of the doubt about her situation. "I'll be fine."

"Oh my God, Ginny that was you?!"

They looked around and through the blizzard, they could see four people tramping through the snow. Ginny's eyes grew before anyone else could identify them and she went over to them quickly.

"Fred! George! I thought you were going to Hogsmeade!"

Fred's eyes instantly landed on his sister's bloodied hands and a look of disgust appeared on his face.

"And I thought I told you that vampires were a bad influence on the mind _and_ body. Look how that turned out," he said somewhat jokingly, trying to break the tension that was rising around them.

Ginny glanced over at the clearing she had just destroyed and bit her lip as she continued to clean her hands.

"I couldn't really control myself," she whispered timidly.

Lee peered over George's shoulder and frowned upon seeing Stephanie.

"I guess that wasn't Katie…"

Ginny looked over at him.

"Katie isn't here, Lee. She's at Hogwarts," she said, standing up slowly.

Alicia looked amazed.

"You can sense her from _here_?"

Ginny shook her head and pointed to Finneas.

"He told me," she said before turning her attention to the woods.

Her overall appearance changed so quickly that it was staggering. Her eyes became significantly darker and more forlorn and her fingers curled into fists as her body grew still against the frosty wind.

"Harry… he's getting closer…"

Stephanie was helped up to her feet and placed a hand on Ginny's shoulder.

"You should be there for him…"

Ginny nodded and after giving her brothers a quick hug, she surrounded herself with a black mist and disappeared.

George made a face.

"That's going to take some getting used to," he commented casually and Alicia hit him in the arm.

"How can you two make jokes at a time like this?! Harry's about to face Voldemort, your family is fighting for their lives and Katie is up at Hogwarts having God only knows what happening to her," she snapped irritably. "We should go!"

Lee agreed instantly and after a quick word with Snape, they headed off for their previous destination. Hogsmeade.

Severus turned to Stephanie and Finneas.

"Take her out of here. She needs to rest," he told the older man.

Stephanie knew better than to argue the point, especially after what had just happened, so after giving him a quick kiss goodbye, Finneas disapparated with her by his side.

* * *

"Neville," Luna hissed from her spot behind a bush. She motioned above her and the entire group looked up to see Darcy circling just below the treetops. Neville looked over at Luna and she nodded slowly.

"Okay, it's time for us to split up," he whispered to the group of Hogwarts students they were leading. "Luna and I are going to keep going through here. You guys know what to do."

Dean frowned.

"Neville, this is suicide. What if it doesn't work?" he asked. "You two are just-"

"It's going to work," Luna snapped. "It _has_ to work."

"But you two could be killed!" Lavender insisted.

Neville glanced over at Luna and took a deep breath.

"Well then, we'll be killed… but we have to do this…"

A Ravenclaw boy snorted.

"You're one brave son of a bitch," he muttered nervously.

"He's a Gryffindor," Luna responded proudly, exchanging a quick glance with Neville before she turned to the others. "You guys know what to do right?"

"Yeah, but-"

A haunting cry shot through the forest and stopped all conversation as they all froze. They looked around and some of them began to back away from it.

"Greyback," Neville muttered. "He's still out there."

Luna nodded and turned to the students.

"We don't have much time. You guys should go."

Many of the students were surprised by Luna's take charge attitude and it was obvious that the war had changed her in a very great way. That was something to be admired.

"Good luck, you two," Seamus whispered before he and five others moved off to the left. The Patil twins each gave Neville a kiss on the cheek before they left with seven others to the right. Soon Neville and Luna were the only ones left.

Luna looked up at Neville and contemplated saying something, but instead she gave him a quick kiss on the lips before she started to trudge through the gathering snow. Neville watched her walk a few meters before he followed after, not really caring about what happened anymore.

He had gotten what he had always wanted.

That was enough for him.

* * *

"This storm is getting worse," Tonks snapped as she, Moody, Kingsley and a few Aurors headed away from the train tracks and further into the forest. They had just taken care of a few stray Death Eaters and were now trying to find the next campsite. They had to make sure that Harry had as little trouble getting to Voldemort as possible.

"Better cover for us," one of the Aurors muttered.

"Not for Harry," Tonks responded bitterly. "I hope he's okay."

"He's been trained very well," Kingsley commented, stepping around a patch of bushes before he stopped and frowned. "Do you smell that?"

A couple of Aurors stopped as well, looking around.

"What is that stench?" one of them gagged. "It's _awful!_"

"Is it a dead animal?" the other asked.

Tonks and Moody looked back and frowned.

"I don't smell anything," Moody growled, sniffing the air.

"Ugh! It's getting worse," another Auror complained, moving towards Tonks and Moody. "Oh that's much better. You can't even smell it over here."

"It's probably just a plant," Kingsley suggested as he and the other Aurors moved over to Tonks and Moody. "You're right. You can't smell it over here… that's strange…"

"The wind is probably blowing it away from us," Tonks said before turning and continuing on their original path. "We should keep moving."

They were all stopped by a menacing snarl and they turned to see the most hideous looking creature hunched over, leering at them. There were nasty gashes all over its body and its eyes seemed be on fire.

"A Manic?" Tonks hissed. "I thought that vampire said he'd gotten rid of it."

Moody pointed to the thing's arm.

"He did. That's a different one," he said as they all drew their wands.

The Manic reared up on to its back legs and released a bloodcurdling roar at them.

"_DIE!_"

"RUN!"

Before they could move, something shot out of the woods and collided with the Manic, slamming it into a large tree. The Manic screamed and shoved the creature off of it and it went flying into a patch of bushes.

"Oh my God," Tonks gasped as the creature reared up onto its hind legs. "It's Remus…"

"What?" Kingsley gaped. "Are you sure?"

Tonks pointed to deep scars that ran down the muzzle of the monstrous animal.

"It has to be," she managed to say. "Oh my God…"

The werewolf let out a deep and resounding growl before launching itself at the Manic again. They began ripping and biting each other, snarling and spitting mercilessly as they fought.

Moody grabbed Tonks before she could move towards the warring beasts and yanked her back.

"We have to leave now," he growled. "If Remus is here, then Greyback is somewhere else and we need to leave."

"But-"

"We need to go now!" Moody yelled, shoving her further away from the fight, keeping an eye on the two large monsters. "Run! Run! Run!"

* * *

The moment Voldemort entered the clearing, everything went silent. Even the blizzard seemed to calm itself in the presence of evil as the Death Eaters moved carefully out of his way, lowering their eyes away from him.

Hermione, who had been moved over to where Curtis was, watched fearfully as Voldemort was approached smoothly by Bellatrix. It was easy to see what the witch was talking about and Voldemort seemed interested.

"Is it happening?"

Hermione pulled her eyes away from the two conversing, and found Curtis watching her carefully, seeing the fear etched in her face.

"Your friend, Harry… he's coming isn't he?"

"Yes," she managed to say, turning her attention back to Voldemort and Bellatrix. "He's coming…"

"You don't seem too happy," Curtis said before coughing up blood.

Hermione closed her eyes briefly, trying to block out the sound.

"They're going to kill Ron…" she whispered. "They're going to kill him…"

The couple approached Ron at his place against the tree.

"I hear that you think that the mudblood is better than Bellatrix," Voldemort hissed. "You are such a disgrace to the pureblood society, Weasley."

Ron glared up at him with no ounce of fear in his body.

"I'd say the same about you, but you're not even a pureblood, are you Riddle?" he growled back viciously.

"RON!" Hermione screamed when she saw Ron topple to the side, writhing in agony while Voldemort loomed over him.

"Good luck using that other eye again, Weasley," he hissed before turning and looking to where Hermione was, eyes on Ron. "Our resident genius."

Her eyes instantly met with his and she immediately wished she had not looked. The disgust and hatred that showed in his red eyes was overwhelming but she was unable to pull away. She knew she was shaking violently, but she could not help it.

She was petrified.

"I can't wait till Harry gets here… I'll let him watch you die," he snarled before walking away from the captives.

"You won't have to wait very long."

They all turned towards the voice and Hermione nearly died right there.

"Harry!" she gasped. Suddenly she felt it very necessary to make as much noise as possible. "NO! NO! NO! GET AWAY FROM HERE! HARRY NO!"

"Shut up!" a man snarled and slammed the butt of his wand against her head, stunning her into a painfully distraught silence. She continued to writhe around in the snow distressfully, her eyes focused solely on Harry, who's eyes got darker at the Death Eater's actions.

Ron, on the other hand, remained groaning on the ground, bleeding profusely from his gouged eye socket.

Voldemort ignored all this as anger exploded within him. He could feel the connection he had between the boy increasing and it only fueled his lust for Harry's blood.

"Where's the puppet master?" he snarled hatefully.

Harry glanced around the clearing, making note of every Death Eater present, including Bellatrix, who seemed to want to kill someone for letting Harry get so close without anyone noticing.

He could have killed them all.

"I decided that I was going to do this myself. It's about time I killed you."

Bellatrix released a chilling cackle that resounded around the clearing.

"It's about time you learned your place," she crowed. "It's about time _you_ were killed."

Harry's eyes flickered to her momentarily and Hermione could see the unadulterated hate that flooded his eyes before he turned back to Voldemort.

"I'll deal with you later," he growled through gritted teeth, pointing his wand straight at Voldemort. "It's about time we finished what you started seventeen years ago."

Voldemort moved quickly towards Harry and without any warning attacked.

"_AVADA KERDAVA!_"

"HARRY!" Hermione screamed, tears streaming down her face as her best friend barely dodged the deadly curse and fired a curse of his own. "HARRY!"

She knew this would not last long.

Voldemort was not a man of his word and the Death Eaters around them would join in very quickly.

"ARGH!"

Hermione's attention was drawn to Ron, who was being dragged towards the middle, a wand to his neck and Bellatrix's wild eyes dancing with sadistic pleasure.

"NO!" Hermione screamed. "NO!"

Harry turned to see what was happening and he got hit in the shoulder with a nasty gash. He fell to the ground, but quickly sat up, keeping his wand on Voldemort while holding a hand to his shoulder. It was obvious that he was in an enormous amount of pain, but he was not about to die any time soon.

"Hermione, you need to stop it," Curtis growled suddenly, struck suddenly with a fit of self-preservation. "They'll kill us instead!"

"They're going to kill Ron," she cried. "They're going to kill him!"

"Hermione-"

"KILL HIM!"

Hermione and Curtis stopped struggling by the small tree to see Ron lying pathetically on the ground; blind, defeated and in copious amounts of excruciating pain.

"KILL THE BASTARD HARRY!" he bellowed from the snow. "KILL HIM!"

"Psst!"

If it had not been for the pain Hermione had been going through, she would have laughed.

Luna Lovegood was crouching behind some bushes, looking extremely frightened. She motioned for Hermione to come over to her and Hermione shook her head, holding up her bonded hands. Luna pointed down and Hermione frowned, not understanding. Luna pointed down again with more force and urgency, her eyes flickering from the captive to the fight that was going on behind her. Hermione looked down and gasped.

Darcy was there, biting and slashing at her bonds quickly until the broke and fell to the snow. Hermione immediately turned to Curtis and, while keeping an eye on the Death Eaters nearby, began to tug at his bonds. Darcy helped out and within seconds, Curtis was free as well, but before they could move, things got worse.

_BOOM!_

_BOOM!_

_BOOM!_

Even some of the trees were ripped out of the ground as the explosions blew many of the people back into the forest.

For a moment Hermione could not hear anything. Her ears were ringing and she could feel warm, sticky blood running down her face. Groans and the sound of fallen trees filtered through to her, but she could not make anything out as she struggled to get to her feet. She stood there dazed for a few seconds before she looked around. Luna was also getting to her feet and staring at the enlarged and desolated clearing intently. Hermione turned her attention to the clearing as well and the first thing she noticed was that Harry and Voldemort were gone.

"Where are they?" she heard Luna whisper frantically. "Where is he?"

Her voice seemed louder than normal now that Hermione's hearing was coming back. The forest around them was strangely quiet, despite the recent explosions. The snow and wind began to fall oppressively fierce upon them and through the trees, covering up some evidence of what had just happened. There were many people around her, struggling to their feet, but none of them made a move towards her or anyone else, as if trying to also figure out what had just happened.

Their struggle made Hermione even more aware of the pain that was in her head, but she ignored it as she searched for anyone else that was familiar, leaving Luna behind to mutter something about Neville being missing.

Someone was groaning.

Well, to be honest, a lot of people were groaning, but one person in particular stuck out to Hermione and she immediately moved towards the noise. She found Curtis lying in a thorn bush and after a moment, she managed to drag him out before collapsing in pain beside him.

"What the hell was that?" Curtis asked, breathing shallowly as he looked around the forest. "What's going on?"

Hermione ignored him and tried to catch sight of Ron.

He was gone.

And so was Bellatrix.

"RON!" she screamed. "RON-"

Screams and curses erupted in a sudden onset of flashes and bangs, knocking Hermione back down as the forest quickly filled with the sounds of injured men and burning wood. After a moment's hesitation, she quickly got up to her knees and grabbed Curtis, shaking him.

"Curtis, we have to find Ron and get out of here. We need to move now!"

Curtis looked up at her.

"My leg is broken, Hermione, I can't move," he growled out through chattering teeth.

Hermione ignored his excuse and with a strength that defied her situation, hefted him up with a sob of pain and got him on one foot before she looked around.

"LUNA!" she screamed above the destruction. "LUNA!"

But the young woman had already disappeared into the blizzard in search of Neville, leaving Hermione and Curtis to their own fate.

"Curtis, run!" Hermione shouted before launching themselves headlong into a melee of Death Eaters and Hogwarts students Hermione had never thought she'd see again.

Curtis tried his hardest to keep up with her, disregarding the pain that shot up his leg and obeying the natural instinct of flight God had given him, sprinting after her as fast he could. However, the pain was too much and he finally collapsed to the ground, gasping desperately for air that did not want to enter his lungs. Hermione turned around and ran over to him, falling to her knees and grabbing hold of his hands.

"Curtis, you have to get up!" she cried. "You have to get up!"

He shook his head, biting back his own pain.

"I can't… I can't…" he gasped. "Go find Ron!"

Again, she ignored him and began looking around urgently. By this time, she was still surprised she could feel her heart anymore, but it was still there, destroying her with every second she remained in the forest.

She was torn between two very difficult decisions.

Leave Ron or leave Curtis…

_Hermione shook her head._

"_Ron, you don't know-"_

"_The moment Harry turns up, they're going to kill me," he snapped angrily, hot tears coming to his eyes. "And then they're going to torture you until Harry folds… if there is any chance for you to escape…"_

_She released a sob._

"_Ron," she cried. "I'm not leaving you behind…"_

But he was gone… Bellatrix had probably already killed him and dumped his body in some open area where he would later be found, blinded, disfigured and dead…

Something barked and she looked around to see Darcy flying a few feet away, looking hurt. She knew he was feeling her torment and that it was hurting him just as much as it was her.

"Do you know where the bridge is?" she asked and the skyfox nodded quickly.

Hermione hesitated, turning to look back in the direction she knew Ron had been taken…

"I'm so sorry," she cried.

She let out a sob and before Curtis could protest, she yanked him back up to his feet and without another word she began to help him towards the train tracks. She knew they would get help there…

_I'm so sorry, Ron…_

* * *

Hermione was missing again, not that Luna really cared at the moment. She had to find Neville. He had gone missing in the explosion and if she did not find him, it would mean that their plan had failed and she could not let that happen.

"Harry, are you getting tired?"

Luna stopped in her tracks and looked around, trying to find the origin of the voice. There were two quick flashes of green light and she took off in that direction, running as fast as she could. She slowed down and crouched behind a bush in time to see Harry struggling to his feet.

It was the most devastating scene Luna had ever laid eyes one.

He was a mess. His entire body was covered in what she guessed to be his own blood and a bone was actually protruding from one of his legs. One arm hung limply at his side while the other gripped his wand like a vice. One of the spectacles for his glasses was broken and a piece of the glass was actually buried in the area just below his eye.

But the worst part about the thing was that he was crying. She could see the tears running down his face and mixing with the blood and she could feel her heart break in that instant.

She needed to help him.

She needed to stop this before he was killed.

"Poor little Harry Potter!" Bellatrix Lestrange cackled wickedly, dancing around the limp and mangled form of Ron Weasley. "Poor little Harry Potter!"

Voldemort, whose only sign of battle was the gash in his side, watched Harry struggle to breathe with inhuman pleasure.

"It's such a shame that your lady love was not here to see this," he commented lightly. "You're going to die alone, Harry."

Luna could see a few Death Eaters appearing through the haze of the storm and knew that Voldemort was going to finish it soon.

She had to do something.

She had to give Harry more time.

Luna closed her eyes and after a moment's procrastination, she stood up and pointed her wand straight into the middle of the fight.

"_EXPECTO PATRONUM!_"

A hare shot out of her wand and thundered between Voldemort and his prey. Harry immediately turned to see Luna standing there and his eyes widened.

"LUNA!"

"KILL HER!" Voldemort bellowed. "NOW!"

"LUNA RUN!" Harry screamed. "LUNA!"

She ignored him and began firing curses into the crowd of Death Eaters until she was struck in the stomach and sent flying into a large evergreen. She released a cry of pain before she fell to the ground, motionless.

"NO!" Harry screamed. "LUNA!"

"_CRUCIO!_" Voldemort spat, aiming his wand straight at Harry's chest.

"_BOMBARDA!_"

The two curses met and there was a deafening explosion.

It took a few minutes for everyone to gain their bearings, and when they did, they saw something that shocked them all.

"It's not possible," Bellatrix gasped. "IT'S NOT POSSIBLE!"

Two Harry Potters…

There were now _two_ Harry Potters…

The second Harry, the one without any injuries, pointed his wand straight at Voldemort.

"You killed my parents," he growled. "Now I'm going to kill you!"

* * *

Ginny released herself of the dark cloud and stepped out into the blizzard, looking around carefully. Close behind her, she could hear fading explosions and screams echoing around the forest but she ignored it as she moved through the snow quickly.

Her body was numb to the freezing snow and driving wind, but her heart hammered dangerously against her chest as her senses increased. She could feel Harry close by, but something was blocking his heartbeat from her.

Something evil.

Something large.

Something with a faster heartbeat than any human, but seemed to match her own.

_I will kill him before you can see him._

Ginny stopped and looked around.

"What?" she gasped.

_Harry… I will kill him before you can set your eyes on him again._

She whirled around and glared into the storm.

"Where are you?"

_I'm coming for him. I'm going to get him and I will devour him!_

She fixed her sight on one spot and her eyes narrowed as rage began to boil up in her.

"Don't you dare touch him," she growled. "Don't you dare…"

_Go to hell, girlie. I'll see you later!_

"GREYBACK!" she shrieked before detonating into shards of black scorching wrath. "GREYBACK!"

* * *

Harry avoided the curse Bellatrix spat at him before firing three curses at her, Voldemort and a Death Eater to his left. The Death Eater fell immediately, while Bellatrix danced around Ron's body, laughing horrendously. Voldemort just shot off a curse of his own.

Harry dodged it again, looking quickly over to where the first Harry, aka Neville Longbottom was holding Luna to him, wand on two Death Eaters who were inching towards them.

"That was a nice trick Harry, but now that Longbottom's dying thanks to you, I hope you plan on dying along with him!" he shouted. "_AVADA KERDAVA!"_

The sound of Ginny entering the clearing was like a sonic boom.

The sound of Greyback entering the clearing was bloodcurdling.

"HARRY!" she cried, slamming into him and knocking him out of the way of the werewolf and the death curse. They crashed into a bush before Ginny jumped to her feet and attacked Greyback, snarling menacingly. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

Greyback gnashed at her neck but she twisted underneath him and grabbed his arm, wrenching it back until she heard it shatter. The werewolf screamed and whirled around, latching onto the side of her and digging in, making her cry out in pain.

"GINNY!" Harry screamed, getting to his feet. "GINNY!"

Ginny grabbed Greyback's head and ripped him away from her, her eyes widening as blood spilled all over the snow. She whirled him around and threw him into a large evergreen tree, screaming at the beast before turning to Harry.

"KILL HIM HARRY!" she shrieked. "KILL-"

"_AVADA KERDAVA!"_

She let out a wail of agony, but remained standing. Instead, she turned to Voldemort, eyes blazing.

"You can't kill me anymore!" she growled, returning to Harry. "KILL HIM!"

Bellatrix looked incensed.

"NO!" she screeched. "_AVADA KERDAVA!_"

Ginny stepped in front of the curse and reeled at the searing pain before disappearing and reappearing right in front of Bellatrix, grabbing the woman by the throat.

"It's time for you to shut the hell up!" she snarled before flicking her wrist slightly and feeling the woman grow limp.

Harry turned to Voldemort, who had seen the whole thing with a growing rage.

"NO!" the Dark Lord screamed. "IT WILL NOT END THIS WAY! _AVADA KERDAVA!_"

"_AVADA KERDAVA!_"

Ginny turned in time to see the curses meet and then feel the impact of the blinding and climactic explosion.

The light and debris rushed towards her and she closed her eyes, letting the pain rush through her like a flood. Her ears were filled with the sounds of ripping of trees and the screams of tortured souls, but it did not affect her. She stood perfectly still and waited until everything went completely silent.

Ginny opened her eyes and looked around.

"Harry…" she whispered through the gently falling snow. "Harry!"

She saw his body lying in the snow, bloodied and disfigured.

"HARRY!"

She ran to him and fell to the ground, placing her hands on his chest. His glasses were broken and lying close by and his scar was burning bright against the crimson background.

Ginny ran a hand down his cheek to his neck, feeling for his pulse as she tried desperately to remain calm and sane against the cruel silence that surrounded her. With her mind in a mess, she could not sense him anymore and that petrified her to no end. Everything seemed to be speeding up as her mind was bombarded with the reality of the situation she was in.

Either Harry was dead or Voldemort was dead…

Either way, life would never be the same again…

"Come on Harry, give me a pulse," she growled, gripping his neck tightly. "Come on!"

Behind her, she could sense the vampires emerging from the woods.

"Is he alive?" she heard Roxanne ask. "We cannot interfere until we know."

Ginny felt the tears run down her cold, pale cheeks as she turned to face them.

"Barely," she cried softly before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. "We've won…"

Viorel approached and sat down cross-legged beside her, looking straightforward into the falling snow.

"Then you should take him away," he told her quietly. "We will take care of everything else."

Ginny nodded and gathered Harry's limp form in her arms and with a final look around the carnage filled area, she surrounded them with darkness and disappeared.

_We've won…_

**A/N: Oh my gosh! Finally! Okay, I know most of you weren't expecting the thing with Neville and Harry, but I thought I'd put some dramatic effect to the climax. Please, please, please, please, **_**please**_** tell me what you thought of this chapter. All of you readers! I mean all of you. I'm talking to you readers who tune in to read but don't stick around to review. PLEASE REVIEW! Your reviews determine who I kill off in the next chapter. If I see less than ten, I won't update. If I see less than fifteen, I'll kill off someone **_**really**_** important. I won't tell you who because I don't know who I was already going to snuff out, but we'll see. And yes, I am threatening you, so R/R! :-)**

**jenny!!:** Wow, you really don't want him to die. For a moment, I was actually going to read the whole statement, but then I realized it was repeating itself and I was really surprised by your adamancy. Whether or not I took it to heart is up to you. You're really eager to get rid of Curtis. :-) I tried to keep the vampires out of this, but Ginny's pretty significant.

**MaeSilverpaws1:** Oh gosh, a lot was crammed into this chapter and the odds were against them majorly. Yeah, Ron royally screwed himself by taking that mark. Oh Hermione hasn't seen the last of my wrath. I'll answer the vampire question later.

**mgmve2008:** I loved the scenes with Hermione and Ron also. Ugh! I hate Bellatrix. I am _so_ glad she's dead. Oh, I did a number on all of you with the whole Harry thing. I wanted a way to place Neville and Luna in a more significant light and I think I did a pretty good job. Tell me what you thought! As for Curtis, I think it was Hermione who had to sacrifice Ron for her friend. A very difficult decision as well.

**rhr4eva:** That's okay, I was thinking the exact same thing when I was writing it. I was like, "what could Bellatrix do to make her seem even more revolting?" I came up with that. I don't know who I'm going to kill off. We obviously know that Ginny makes it, but then again, that was obvious. As for everyone else, we don't know what happens.

**nextbestthing:** Your disappearance is something I wish I could do for a while. I need a break from this. I'm glad you liked it both times! Can't wait to hear what you have to say about this chapter and the next! Oh please don't throw a tantrum and like change everything I wrote just to spite me. That won't be fun for me. BTW, I have two other chapters already done, so prepare to receive them in the next two days. No pressure!

**Chapter Tease: Finally!**

"_You're quiet this morning," he repeated. _

_She shrugged, leaning against the door and closing her eyes. _

"_I'm just tired… I didn't sleep very much last night," she told him quietly. _

"_Nightmares?"_

_Hermione shook her head. _

"_No… that's the problem…" she whispered. "I didn't dream at all…"_


	40. Burned Bridges and Broken Wings

_He spoke well who said that graves are the footprints of angels._ **-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow**

* * *

**Minister of Magic Assassinated!**

That was the Daily Prophet headline one rainy April afternoon.

"Last night, the Minister of Magic, Henry Dreyfus, was killed in his Westminster flat in his sleep. The cause of death is currently unknown, but Head Auror Alastor Moody states that the assassin, a deranged Pansy Parkinson, has been apprehended and is currently awaiting trial at Azkaban. Parkinson, who lost her parents to the Last Battle, two months ago, was thought to be dead along with several other former Hogwarts students. Among the list of those who are missing is Draco Malfoy, whose father was also killed in the Forbidden Forest. The attack, the Aurors assume, was instigated by Death Eaters who have yet to be arrested. As for the Minister of Magic, the Ministry refuses to release a statement as to who will be taking up his position, though considering the rate at which Ministers of Magic tend to die, people are probably hesitant to apply for the of-"

"Bill, stop reading that bloody paper," Mr. Weasley muttered, looking up from his breakfast to glare at his son. "Why the hell did you bring that in here anyway?"

Bill shrugged, folding up the newspaper and setting it down on the table.

Two months ago, this news would have been so shocking and appalling that Bill would have told his father off, but now… the death of a high ranking official was commonplace…

His eyes landed on Fleur, who was staring out the window into the wet backyard, sighing occasionally and gripping a steaming cup of tea. She looked so forlorn and he watched as a single tear rolled down her perfect cheek, accentuating her pale skin and saddened eyes. She was here to help out his mother, but at the moment, she could not bring herself to look away from the spring storm outside.

Bill knew what she was thinking about, but he did not want to think about it at the moment. It was too painful…

Mr. Weasley returned to his breakfast while Mrs. Weasley walked into the kitchen, holding a tray of dishes. She set them down on the counter before picking up a letter and handing it to her husband.

"Moody's owl came with this," she said curtly. "I think it has something to do with Harry…" She stopped and Fleur flinched at the words, releasing a gasp of pain before Mrs. Weasley caught herself and shifted on her feet. "I think it has something to do with the Minister…" There her voice cracked as she tried to hold back the tears. It took her a moment to get it all together before she stood up straighter and released a shallow breath. "I'm going to go take Ron some tea. Bill would you like some?"

Bill shook his head slowly as he watched his mother move around the kitchen quickly, trying not to show any sign of weakness. But he knew too well what was going on inside of all of them.

The moment they had all found out about the death of Voldemort two months ago, it had been euphoric. Two hours later, they were informed that Harry was dead and his body was missing, according to the vampires. Ginny was also missing and that only added to the devastation that wreaked havoc on the Weasley family.

Things had never been the same since.

Mrs. Weasley cried twice a day, locking herself up in Ginny's old room as she wailed. Mr. Weasley stayed away from the newly constructed Burrow most of the time, only coming in at dinner or when Ron was sleeping. The rest of the Weasley brood, with the exception of Bill and Ron, avoided the Burrow altogether, either spending time at the Ministry or helping with the reconstruction of Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, Hogwarts and many parts of wizarding London that had been destroyed by the Death Eaters during the war. Dumbledore, Neville and Luna were the only ones who visited on a regular basis.

Ron was the main reason many of the people stepped lightly around the Burrow. Though he had survived the war, he suffered the worse from it.

The Healers had been unable to save either of his eyes and had been forced to seal his eyelids shut.

Now he lay up in his room, dejected and numb to everything around him. Not even Hermione helped and after a couple of weeks of no response from him, she had stopped showing up at the Burrow as well.

So now the Burrow was a hallowed out shell of its former self. A silent and depressing place no one wanted to be, but felt obligated to only because of Ron's medical problems.

If it had not been for Ron, who knows what would have happened…

Bill sighed and looked down at the paper again.

The Daily Prophet had long since stopped headlining the death of Harry Potter. It was not that they wanted to forget him. No one could possibly forget him…

It was just too painful to have to look at the same picture of him smiling and waving at the camera, an arm around Ginny and laughing at something Ron was saying off camera. It was a picture Remus had offered the Daily Prophet.

The world was not the same without Harry Potter.

The Weasley family was not the same without their son and daughter…

Brother and sister…

Friend and dearest one…

* * *

"Bloody hell, doesn't the Prophet have anything else to talk about?" Tonks muttered darkly as she sat down across from Remus in his apartment that same morning.

"Would you rather them talk about Harry?" Remus asked impassively, causing Tonks to pale and her hair to turn a pathetic shade of grey.

"No," she murmured in a barely audible voice as she stared at him with tears in her eyes. "I don't…" She turned to look down at the newspaper in front of her, biting her lip. "I didn't necessarily like the picture you gave them."

"I had to give them something. I couldn't very well let them reprint that photo they took of him in his fourth year by that Skeeter bitch," Remus responded just as callously, making Tonks flinch at his harshness.

"Molly didn't appreciate it."

"That's her problem," he muttered.

Tonks' eyes grew.

"Remus, she loved him and to see a picture of her daughter and Harry in the newspaper was just torture," she insisted. "For all of us!"

"I don't care," Remus growled, meeting her eyes with just as much intensity.

They stared at each other for a moment before Tonks broke the connection and took a deep breath, trying to hold back the tears in her eyes.

"If Harry was alive, do you think he'd enjoy what he was hearing?" she asked quietly.

Remus slammed his fists down on the table and stood up rapidly, violently shoving back his chair as he did. Tonks fell out of hers and scrambled back at the sight of Remus.

"Don't you _dare_ bring Harry into this again," he growled fiercely at her. "Don't you dare!"

Before she could say anything else, he left the table and slammed the door behind him on his way out of the apartment.

Tonks remained on the floor for a moment before she got up and went to the window quickly, looking out into the rain to see Remus moving down the street and out of sight.

She knew she had made a mistake by saying the last bit with Harry, but it had come out without her realizing it and she knew Remus had taken it badly.

The worse part, however, was not that she had hurt Remus, but that she had forgotten that Harry was still a sensitive subject.

With his name out of the newspaper, the reality of his death had finally begun to set in and the idea of what he had done was again starting to come to life. Around her, she was starting to hear more about Harry's victory at the Last Battle rather than his death and all of his accomplishments over the past seven years were starting to overshadow the gloom that had slipped into the souls of wizards and witches everywhere.

Remus had never talked about Harry's death with anyone and the fact that he had not been there to protect the young man still tortured him. He screamed in his sleep and he had become despondent towards her, making her feel worse than ever about the situation they were currently in.

Tonks wanted so much to take away his hurt, but she knew that it probably would never go away.

He was the last living testimony of what had been started so many years ago with Harry's parents and that fact alone was something that would stick with him forever.

Sighing, she turned away from the dreary London view and stared at the small kitchen.

She would have to do the dishes before going to work…

She closed her eyes and released another painful sigh.

She didn't want to do dishes…

Tonks opened her eyes and began to move around the kitchen quickly, placing plates in the sinks and sorting through mail, all the while ignoring the newspaper clipping on the wall… the one with a happy Harry Potter… the one with a smiling Ginny Weasley…

* * *

"You're quiet this morning."

Hermione turned away from staring out the car window to Curtis, who was driving.

"What?" she muttered.

Curtis watched her carefully before he returned to staring out into the wet London streets.

"You're quiet this morning," he repeated.

She shrugged, leaning against the door and closing her eyes.

"I'm just tired… I didn't sleep very much last night," she told him quietly. As if to prove her point, Darcy, who was lying in her lap, released a loud yawn and raised his head sleepily to see what was going on. Curtis frowned.

"Nightmares?"

Hermione shook her head.

"No… that's the problem…" she whispered. "I didn't dream at all…"

Curtis glanced over at her and decided to change the subject.

"When's Hogwarts going to be rebuilt?" he asked.

Hermione sat up a bit straighter and shrugged again.

"A month or two, I think," she said slowly.

They fell into silence while Curtis drove through the city, heading towards the downtown shopping district. Occasionally, when they stopped at red lights, Curtis would observe Hermione as she stared out the window with no expression on her face, yet there was something so pointed by the way she wrapped her arms around herself and the way she sat in her seat that it was easy for him to identify what was wrong. Even Darcy, who seemed to be feeding off of her emotions, was quite depressing. The skyfox, who had grown to the size of a large cat, was curled up in Hermione's lap and offering no clue as to what was wrong.

"When did you last see Ron?"

Her body visibly trembled at the name and tears swelled in her eyes, but she kept to her own tortured silence. When he reached out to take her hand, she withered further into her seat away from him, her eyes closing and tears running down her face.

"I want to go back home, Curtis," she whispered. "Take me back to my house."

"Hermione-"

"I agreed to go downtown with you to get some things," she whispered. "I don't want to talk about Ron."

"But Hermione-"

She sat up straight in her seat and looked at him through watery eyes.

"Either take me back home or drop it," she hissed. Darcy released a quick growl to back her up, opening his wings slightly and stretching his claws to prove her seriousness.

Curtis hesitated for a moment before he nodded and returned to focusing on the road instead of his friend.

"Fine," he muttered.

Hermione bit her lip and leaned back into the door, staring blankly out the window as the tears continued to fall down her face, stroking Darcy mechanically as they drove past the rainy landscape. She tried to ignore the tight constrictions in her chest, but as Curtis continued to drive it only got worse until she could no longer take it any longer.

"Stop the car, Curtis," she snapped suddenly. "Stop it!"

He pulled over to the side of the road and she stumbled out of the car into the rain. She ran into an alley, where she threw up behind a trashcan. Curtis got out and hurried after her, rubbing her back as she continued to retch. When she was done, she turned and rested her back against the dank wall, leaning her head back to let the rain fall on her face as she cried harder.

"I failed them," she cried. "I failed them!"

Curtis shook his head and tried to take her hand.

"Hermione, no-"

She pulled away, glaring at him.

"HARRY'S DEAD! HARRY'S DEAD AND RON'S…" She placed a hand to her mouth to stop the sob from escaping her lips. Her knees buckled and Curtis rushed in to stop her from collapsing into the trashcan.

They sat there in the rain for a few minutes, clinging to each other as the rain fell harder. Darcy came out of the car and flew over to them, sitting down on the ground and watching Hermione with severe concern in his small blue eyes. He pawed at her leg and released short whining noises before Hermione finally spoke again.

"Ron's dead also," she cried.

"Hermione, he's not dead. He's going through the hardest time of his life and he needs you. You should be with him."

She shook her head.

"He won't talk to me… he stopped talking when he heard that Harry was dead and Ginny was missing…"

"Hermione, this isn't your fault. What happened to Ron and Harry isn't your fault," he told her forcefully. "Hermione-"

She got up suddenly and stepped away from him towards the car.

"Let's go," she said, holding out her arms for Darcy. "Darcy, come here!"

Curtis frowned, standing up as well, watching as the skyfox flew obediently into Hermione's arms.

"Hermione-"

Hermione smiled at him blankly, tilting her head to the side.

"We're going to miss all the good sales if you keep standing there in the rain," she commented before turning and heading for the car. "Hurry up!"

Curtis watched her go, his heart breaking at the sight.

This was Hermione…

Broken, pained and in complete denial…

* * *

Fleur entered Ron's room a few hours later, carrying a tray filled with potions and bandages. The room was almost pitch black save for the sliver of dull light that slipped through the closed drapes. The repetitious tapping of rain could be heard on the windows and occasionally, one could hear the rumblings of thunder coming from London.

Fleur lit her wand and made her way over to the occupied bed in the corner, setting down her tray on the nightstand before she took in the sad sight in front of her.

Ron, who had not left the room since he had arrived almost five weeks ago, was deathly pale and extremely weak, mostly because he refused to go outside. He was sitting up in the bed, his head resting against the backboard and his chest barely moving. There were bandages going up his arms and one long one around his head to cover up the places where his eyes used to be. His hair, which had grown a lot since the war, now covered up most of the scars on his face while the loose clothing he had on hid the fact that he was now unbelievably thin, despite the food Mrs. Weasley had been feeding him.

Biting her lip, she reached out to see if he was awake and released a short yelp when his hand shot up and snatched her wrist in a bruising grip, stopping her quickly. Fleur groaned under the pain of his grasp.

"Ron, it's me," she hissed and he immediately let her go, returning to his stationary position.

Fleur cursed herself for her stupidity.

He did that every time someone came into the room. It was a fear reflex, the Healer had told them earlier on.

"_We rely on our eyes way too much. Now that Ron can't do that, he's not going to be able to tell who's in the room with him and because of the torture he's been through and the threats your family has been getting, Ron is going to lash out to defend himself. Like a wounded animal will. He's going to have to learn to use his other senses to identify people, but until then, I suggest you announce yourself to him every time you enter the room so that he knows what's going on."_

It would take him a while before he was able to tell who was with him without having to hear their voices. Until then, fear would still control most of his actions and that was a dangerous thing.

Bill had forgotten to announce himself one time and had just burst into the room, startling Ron, who had in turn attacked Bill wildly thinking he was someone else.

After that, Bill never came up to see Ron. He just remained downstairs with his father while Fleur and Mrs. Weasley took care of the abandoned brother.

For a moment, Fleur hesitated before she turned to the tray.

"I have to change your bandages, Ron," she said quietly.

He did not respond and after a brief silence, she pointed her wand at his arms and unwrapped his bandages, pulling them off as she went.

Ron remained absolutely still as she applied a foul smelling liquid to the nasty cuts on his arms that had yet to heal. She could tell that the potions were hurting him by the way his breathing had quickened and it pained her that he did not say anything about it.

Though she was not an immediate family member, Fleur had come to like Ron very much so when she found out that he was refusing to speak to anyone, it had broken her heart. She knew he was going through an _enormous _amount of pain, physically and emotionally, and knew that if he kept it bottled up inside, it would only fester and get worse.

As she was placing the old bandages in a small waste bin nearby, she noticed a picture on the wall and stopped to stare at it.

It was a photo of Ron and Ginny when they were much younger. Seven or eight, she supposed.

But what startled her about the photo was the brilliance of Ron's blue eyes and the way the laughed even though he wasn't. Apparently his twin brothers had forced him and his sister to take the picture against their wills as seen when the photo began to repeat itself.

She bit her lip and looked over at Ron, whose head was facing the covered windows, as if hoping to see out of them.

But he would never see again… they would never see those beautiful blue eyes that danced and laughed at you even when he refused to…

With tender hands, she reached out and carefully removed the bandage around his face, revealing sealed flesh over tortured eye sockets. She could not help but stare at his face for a moment before looking away and picking up the salves she had to apply. She placed the creams on his skin as gently as possible before she quickly placed a new bandage over the dressed skin.

Again, he refused to do anything but sit there like a ghost, detached and unaware of his own existence.

Fleur reached out to touch his face but he pulled away, shaking his head.

She bit her lip and looked around the dark room.

"Ron, you cannot keep silent forever…"

No response.

"She'll come back eventually," Fleur whispered. "She's just hurt."

Silence.

Fleur sighed and stood up, picking up the tray and preparing to leave.

"I hope you find your voice again," she said. "The Burrow has been so quiet… and so empty…"

With that said, she walked out of his bedroom, leaving him to his own dark, tormented prison.

* * *

Dumbledore looked up from the letter he was writing to see McGonagall walk into his temporary office at the Ministry. She sat down quickly across from him, holding out a letter to him. Dumbledore took it and read it quietly before looking up at her.

"Well?"

McGonagall shook her head.

"Albus, you cannot keep playing games with these people. Alastor knows you know something, but he's keeping quiet only because you are not giving him anything to go off of. It's been _two_ months," she said.

Dumbledore shook his head.

"We cannot do anything until we receive word from Shankton. You know we can't."

McGonagall took a quick breath before looking down at the letter.

"How long do you think the Weasleys can handle this? The family is already suffering as it is with Ron and Ginny. We cannot continue this charade-"

"We will continue this charade until we receive word, Minerva and not a moment sooner. We have to be sure."

McGonagall observed him carefully before sighing and standing up.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Albus, for the sake of all of us," she whispered.

Dumbledore glanced over at the clock on the wall and then turned to McGonagall.

"Minerva, would you mind stepping over to the side a little?"

The woman frowned.

"What?"

He motioned toward where he wanted her to stand.

"Over there. Quickly, please. She's normally on time."

McGonagall moved to where he had pointed.

"She?"

The room was darkened by a cloud of blackness before Roxanne appeared. Dumbledore handed her the letter he had been writing and took the letter she offered him. With a quick nod, she disappeared again. McGonagall turned to Dumbledore.

"She is your contact?"

Dumbledore nodded.

"Severus was too busy with Stephanie to handle the job. Besides, Roxanne loves visiting her."

McGonagall shook her head.

"This better be over soon, Albus. You're messing with a lot of people's lives this way."

Dumbledore looked down at the letter Roxanne had given him and smiled.

"Hopefully it will be."

* * *

Hermione entered her house in time for dinner and sat down with her parents. After a few minutes of complete silence, Mrs. Granger turned to Hermione, watching her carefully.

"How was your time down town with Curtis," she asked.

Hermione shrugged.

"It was fine, I suppose," she replied coolly, staring down at her food.

Mr. Granger decided to try. "Did you find anything interesting? Any new book?"

Hermione shook her head. "No books. There was nothing interesting there."

Her parents exchanged worried glances. The newspaper had just declared that ten new books were hitting the shelves that day. The fact that there was nothing interesting was very disconcerting.

"Are you sure?" Mr. Granger asked.

Hermione nodded, sighing. "Yes."

Mrs. Granger reached out and took Hermione's hand.

"Dear, when was the last time you went to the Burrow? I'm sure Ron would love-"

"I don't want to talk about Ron," Hermione snapped bitterly.

"But honey-"

"Mum please," Hermione begged, tears coming to her eyes. "Just let it be…"

Again her parents shared a look before surrendering to their daughter's pleas and Mr. Granger immediately changed the subject.

"So we had a lot of rain this week. Hopefully next week will be a bit brighter," he said.

Hermione closed her eyes and ignored them.

* * *

"Luna, Neville's here!" Luna's dad yelled up the stairs.

Luna immediately got off of her bed and ran out of her room and down the stairs as quickly as she could. She skidded to a stop right at the bottom to see Neville and her father talking quietly with one another. She took that time to observe Neville briefly.

Like the others, the war had changed him significantly, both emotionally and physically. His duel with Voldemort had left him with some lasting scars on his face and neck and Bellatrix's death had given him some closure on his parents own torment. However, unlike Ron or Hermione and even herself, Neville was a bit more optimistic about things.

Since they had yet to recover Harry's body, he would occasionally insist that the Boy Who Lived had not died, but was still out there somewhere.

Of course, he only brought this up in front of Luna anymore, because Ron had given the young man a huge piece of his mind after Neville had mentioned his idea. Luna agreed with Neville in that respect, but mostly kept it to herself.

Also, her relationship with Neville had grown.

Because of the recent events and Harry's death, they had kept from becoming an item, but they did have an understanding about what was happening between them and enjoyed as much time with each other as possible, even if that time was spent with Ron as well….

Sighing, she walked over to Neville and offered him a smile.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

Luna nodded, grabbing her cloak as they walked to the door. "Even if he won't talk, I think it's good to be around," she replied.

Neville shrugged, looking out into the stormy landscape.

"Especially with Hermione not coming around anymore," he muttered. "It's been raining all week…"

Luna took his hand in hers and gave it a quick squeeze. "Well, that only means that eventually it will get brighter," she said. "And when it gets brighter… who knows what will happen?"

Neville looked down at her with a look of appreciation in his face.

"When did you get so optimistic?" he asked and she shrugged, pulling out her wand.

"Just because this bird isn't flying, doesn't mean she doesn't hope to once again," she responded before disapparating.

Neville frowned.

"What does that even _mean_?" he asked before disapparating as well.

**A/N: YAY! We got the fifteen reviews! I knew if I threatened you guys, you would pull through! :-) I promise I won't do that again. That was mean on my part and I'm sorry. I have nothing else to say... at least not to everyone. Obviously I have a few things to say to the reviewers. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to R and R!**

**nextbestthing:** Well, the smell was supposed to be whatever you guys wanted it to be. It could be the Manic that was loose in the forest or it could be dead bodies or it could be some bad metaphor for something bad is coming… I don't know really. I'm glad you're doing this for me! Errors really ruin a story. BTW, I love you! That whole thing with the Daily Planet, I must have had superman on the brain or something. Oh and Bill is reading the article out loud. Thanks for everything! PS: The next chapter's been sent for you!

**Jenny:** Her choice was really hard and now she's paying for it. Whether or not she deserves to is up for debate. Neville was pretending to be Harry until Luna got hurt, then the real Harry showed up! YAY! Nope, Ron isn't dead, but he's certainly not doing very good.

**Reader:** Ginny picked up the real Harry. I hope you liked this chapter!

**Blue Leah:** Ginny was displaying the effects of the vampire baby inside of her. She was stronger and she had the ability to disapparate without a wand.

**wow60:** I think it's going to be a while before all those things you mentioned in your review happen, if they ever do happen.

**sandy-weasley:** Ron's not dead, like I said, but there are certain aspects of him that we probably won't see again. I think it's too late to talk about ruining the victory and both Ron and Hermione are alive… so…

**Grownupron:** Well, thanks to Ginny, Bellatrix is dead, but I think it's obvious that things aren't working out for Hermione and Ron anyway. We'll see how it turns out.

**Danielle:** Oh things are going to play out. But not exactly the way you might want it to.

**Aaaah!:** I am so sorry for the excessive H/G and vampire stuff and I tried to numb that. I hope I succeeded, though I don't think this was the exact Ron and Hermione interaction you wanted. I tried to save everyone I could, but like always, I like to make things difficult for them. We'll see about an entire chapter with Ron and Hermione. That might be difficult, since they're not speaking to each other… and Ron's not speaking at all…

**rhr4eva:** I hope this isn't punishment! I tried to do my best with what I got!

**Lucymucy:** To be honest, I was going to split that chapter up into two, but then I was like… they're not going to want such a tormenting chapter tease! That would be mean. As for Ron catching a break… :-)

**ThEnAmEsGiGi:** I don't think there's going to be any kicking butt in the mere future, but there was more Ron and Hermione. Don't worry. Hermione will get her chance. Be patient!

**mgmve2008:** The smell was supposed to be anything you could possibly imagine it to be. That baby is doing a real number on Ginny, but we won't find out anything more about that until later. All of your questions will be answered in due time.

**tamara72:** Oh they survived! They just didn't like what happened _after_ they survived.

**ronandmion4ever: **Just to screw with you, I'm going to say that you were right and I am going to kill someone off anyway. Because I _am_ that clever! (I'm so conceited also! :-P) We make a great pair! I wanted Neville to do something important for such a long time and then I was thinking about the final battle scene and was like 'WOAH! _Neville_ could fight Voldemort and trick them all!' It was so perfect! I'm glad you liked it! Ha ha, the whole love over money thing made me laugh! Yes, Hermione made a very big mistake in leaving Ron behind to save Curtis, but let's all be honest with ourselves. If you had someone dying in your arms and you were their only chance to survive, would you just leave them there to go search for someone else who you knew was probably dead by then? Just a question. :-) I understand your anger though. I was upset when I wrote it as well. As for the A/N, I thought I was being more discrete about that. He he! I hope I didn't like make you late to school or get you in trouble or anything! Then I'd really feel bad for sending you that PM. Next time, go to sleep, eat breakfast, put on make-up and when you come back from school, then read for hours at a time and forget about the homework! :-)

**Chapter Tease: Of course, this was obviously going to come up eventually!**

"_How can you just stay here while Ron suffers-"_

"_Stop it," Hermione snapped. _

"_HE'S ALONE, HERMIONE!" Luna screamed, angry that Hermione was acting this way. "What's wrong with you?! He needs you and you stopped showing up!"_

"_Stop it!" _

"_He needs you!"_

"_I ABANDONED HIM!"_


	41. Hope is Either Dead or Dying

_To eat bread without hope is still slowly to starve to death._** -Pearl S. Buck**

* * *

"Hermione, there's some people here to see you," Mrs. Granger said when she poked her head into Hermione's room. "They're downstairs."

Hermione nodded and slowly got out of her bed. She took her time to get to the living room and when she got there, she immediately wished she hadn't come down.

"Hey Hermione," Neville greeted.

She glanced behind her to where her mother was standing, watching the group with a worried look in her face.

"Um… hey," she replied weakly.

Luna saw the way Hermione was standing, poised for flight, and tried to break the tension.

"We were in the neighborhood and decided to check in on you," she explained. "We haven't talked in a while, Hermione."

The young woman shrugged.

"I was going to write," she muttered. "I haven't had time to get around to it."

"Busy?" Neville asked.

Again, all Hermione could offer them was a passive shrug as she continued to avoid their eyes. She was shifting from foot to foot, giving Neville and Luna the idea that she really didn't want to be talking to them.

"I suppose."

Luna bit her lip and observed Hermione carefully. The poor girl was thin and looked like she was sick, judging by the puffy red eyes and nose, pale skin and overall weak appearance.

_Apparently guilt's gotten the best of her_, she thought bitterly.

"How are you, Hermione?" she asked and Hermione finally looked up at them.

"What are you doing here?" she asked somewhat impatiently, surprising the couple.

Neville and Luna exchanged glanced before returning to face Hermione.

"We were just at the Burrow-"

Hermione shook her head and started for the stairs.

"I don't want to talk about this," she snapped.

"Hermione, wait!" Luna yelled, hurrying over to stop her from leaving. "You need to listen to us!"

Hermione yanked her arm away from Luna and glared at her.

"I don't want to talk about Ron, okay," she hissed. "Leave me alone."

She was about to go upstairs when Neville's voice cut through her so deeply, she could hardly breathe.

"You should be ashamed of yourself!"

Hermione actually fell to her knees at the impact of the words and tears appeared in her eyes as she tried to make it up the stairs. Neville walked over to where Luna was standing at the base of the staircase and glared up at her.

"How can you just stay here while Ron suffers-"

"Stop it," Hermione snapped.

"HE'S ALONE, HERMIONE!" Luna screamed, angry that Hermione was acting this way. "What's _wrong_ with you?! He needs you and you stopped showing up!"

"Stop it!"

"He needs you!"

"I ABANDONED HIM!" Hermione shrieked before collapsing on the staircase in a heap of sobs.

Neville and Luna were stunned.

So it was the guilt.

Of course they knew about Hermione's on the spot decision to bring Curtis back to the tracks instead of look for Ron, but they would have thought that the fact that Ron was alive would have changed those feelings.

Apparently it had only made it worse.

"Hermione, you made a choice based on the fact that Ron was probably dead," Luna whispered. "You can't keep blaming yourself-"

Hermione stood up suddenly and stared down at them.

"I _chose_ to leave Ron behind for someone else," she growled. "I chose to give up all hope of seeing him again. I betrayed him-"

Neville walked up to her and grabbed her face in his hands.

"No," he hissed. "You didn't betray him! You did what you could at that point! Anyone would have done the exact same thing in your position! We _all_ thought Ron was dead!"

"But I should have known!" she cried, falling back down onto the stairs and burying her face in her hands. "I should have known that he was alive!"

Luna bit her lip.

"Ron left you behind as well," she pointed out.

"It's not the same, Luna and you know it," came Hermione's muffled response. "I wasn't dying."

"Hermione-"

"Just leave me alone," Hermione muttered. "I don't want to see Ron and I don't want to talk to any of you anymore, so go away…"

Luna was about to say something when Neville shook his head and motioned for them to leave. They were about to go when Mrs. Granger pulled them into the kitchen and out of Hermione's hearing. Not that she was paying attention anymore.

"Could you two come back tomorrow?" Hermione's mother asked, making the other two frown.

"Um… Hermione doesn't want us-"

"_I _want you to come back," Mrs. Granger insisted urgently. They could see the severe concern in the mother's eyes and knew something else was wrong.

"Why?" Luna asked.

Mrs. Granger glanced out of the kitchen to the staircase to see that Hermione was gone.

"She's tried to kill herself," she whispered.

"What?!" Neville yelped.

Mrs. Granger bit her lip and nodded.

"We found her in the bathroom, bleeding from her wrists… We've tried to keep an eye on her, but she locks her door magically and if she uses magic to kill herself, I don't know what to do…" she said, tears coming to her eyes. "Please… just come over and keep an eye on her. She's destroyed herself over what happened with Ron it's only getting worse. She's become a drone. She doesn't talk, she doesn't eat… she doesn't _do_ anything. She just walks the house and occasionally goes out with Curtis, but he even says she's depressing…"

Neville and Luna understood what was happening and agreed to come over, only because they did not want Hermione to hurt herself over this.

Guilt was hard enough with all of the pain running through the entire Weasley family.

If Ron found out she had killed herself because of what she had done, worse things would happen.

If that was even possible…

* * *

Bill looked up from his drink when Fleur came down from Ron's room and watched her move silently to the counter where she placed down a plate still filled with food.

"He's still not eating," she whispered with concern.

Bill looked down at his drink.

"He'll have to eventually. Mum talked to the Healer and he said that if he doesn't eat by tonight, they're going to have to force feed him," he told her.

Fleur looked upset by the news.

"Force feed him," she repeated. "He's stressed enough as it is. You try force feeding him and he could snap again."

Bill shook his head.

"He won't have the strength."

Fleur moved over to the table and sat down next to him.

"You're not worried about this?"

Her husband sighed and looked up at her.

"Ron's alive, but we've lost him… with the blindness, Harry, the rest of the family being in pieces and Hermione abandoning him, he's never going to be the same."

Fleur frowned.

"You honestly think Hermione wanted to leave him behind?"

He shook his head.

"_No_, but she shouldn't have," he responded darkly. "What if something had happened?"

His wife took his hands in hers and held them tightly.

"If Charlie was dying in your arms and I was lost like Ron was and the chances of me being dead was high, would you still look for me and leave your brother to die?" she asked.

Bill looked insulted.

"Fleur, that's not the same. Curtis-"

"She and Curtis have known each other since childhood, Bill," Fleur snapped. "He was important to her… so yes it is the same."

Bill shook his head again.

"No it's not, Fleur. I couldn't possibly know what I would do-"

"Unless you were faced with that decision," Fleur finished pointedly. "Everyone is upset with Hermione because she abandoned him in the woods, but she thought he was dead… we _all_ thought Ron was dead! Hermione did the only thing she knew she could do and that was saving Curtis…"

They were quiet for a moment before Fleur stood up and moved to leave the kitchen.

"And you would have saved your brother, Bill," she said over her shoulder. "You know you would have."

* * *

The next week rolled by like a dark blur.

Neville and Luna spent their time between the Burrow and Hermione's home, though they only talked with each other doing to both party's refusal to speak.

Ron was getting progressively worse and when it came time for the Healer to force feed him, the blind young man lashed out and actually managed to grab a hold of Fleur's wand. Since then, no one has tried to touch him. He just sits in his room, clutching the wand and locked inside himself, fearful and tormented.

Hermione, though eating a bit more, was not any better. Her guilt for what had happened was consuming her like wildfire and though she had not attempted to end her life, it was obvious that she was in no way interested in continuing on with any sense of purpose.

Curtis would come over as well, but he, along with Neville and Luna, could no longer bring Hermione out of her guilty stupor.

Things were not getting better at all…

One morning, Neville, Luna and Curtis were sitting in Hermione's kitchen, eating the breakfast Mrs. Granger had made for them. They were conversing quietly about Ron when Hermione appeared at the door with a blank look on her haunted face. They watched as she entered the kitchen and sat down at the table, staring down at her hands.

"You sleep well, Hermione?" Curtis asked carefully.

Hermione did not respond and after a few minutes, Neville began a new conversation about the new developments in the Henry Dreyfus assassination. For a while Hermione listened before she could no longer stand their silent glances and dull words and spoke up.

"How's Ron?"

For a while, they all just stared at her, unable to comprehend the sudden and rather surprising question.

Neville, being the first one to respond, decided against questioning her on her change of heart and answered the question calmly and carefully, but with as much truth as possible. Hermione would know if they were lying to her.

"He's getting worse," he replied slowly.

"How so?"

He exchanged glances with Luna before he responded.

"He's not eating and he hasn't come out of his room since he came back from Mungos."

"Oh…"

That ended Hermione's speaking streak and without so much as a goodbye, she got up and walked back out of the kitchen, just as dejected and worn down as before.

"Where do you think that came from?" Curtis asked.

Luna bit her lip and looked at both boys.

"The same place her guilt's coming from," she replied, causing Curtis to redden. Neville sighed.

"I think the better question is why did she ask?"

Curtis looked down at the empty seat.

"Who knows?"

* * *

Hermione sat down in her chair and stared out of her window into the backyard. Darcy flew over onto her lap and looked up at her with unbelievable sadness in his eyes. He pawed at her arm, as if asking when they would be happy again and she shook her head at him, making him whimper and fly away from her and back to the bed.

_Why can't we be happy?_

Hermione closed her eyes.

"Because I left Ron," she murmured. "I left him and now he's gone…"

_Then go back to him. He'll forgive you. He'll understand._

"No he won't… I left him…"

_You're leaving him now. He's hurt! He's getting worse! You should be with him! You two need each other!_

She turned around in her seat to look at Darcy, who was staring at her from his place on her pillow.

"He doesn't want me there… he won't even talk to me," she whispered.

Darcy tilted his head to the side.

_He won't talk to anyone, Hermione… but that doesn't mean he doesn't need you… and that doesn't mean you don't need him. With Harry gone, you need to get through the grief together. You've abandoned him again._

"I can't face him again."

_You'll never be happy until you face him._

"But-"

_You thought he was dead, Hermione… it's not your fault…you don't do anything to stop what happened to Ron… he would have been blind no matter what…_

Hermione could feel the tears in her eyes and she brushed them away angrily.

She was tired of crying.

_Then go see Ron…_

* * *

He could hear someone coming up the stairs and knew it was Fleur instantly. Unlike his mother, father or brother, Fleur's steps were light and extremely calculated, as if she had planned them weeks in advance.

She never stumbled.

She never knocked.

Fleur came through the door and he could smell her perfume quickly afterwards and it calmed him a little. She was the only one who had that effect.

He didn't know why, she just did.

"Ron, it is me, Fleur."

She just changed his bandages a couple of hours ago and because of the wand thing, he knew she was not coming up to feed him.

Then why was she here?

"I'm just here to talk," she whispered, sitting down carefully on the bed so as to not startle him.

He felt her reach out to take his hand and he immediately pulled it away.

He didn't want anyone touching him. Everything hurt, despite the potions they had been unloading into him, and his skin was hypersensitive since he could not see. Retracting his arms and legs had become a very common reflex for him now.

Fleur sighed but instead of mentioning it, she just talked about something else.

"Neville and Luna promised to come over in a few hours."

He did not respond.

"I think they're trying to get Hermione back over here."

Still nothing.

"Wouldn't it be nice to have Hermione back over?"

Pain shot through Ron's heart, but he did not speak a word.

Why speak when there were no words to describe what was going on inside of him?

He couldn't see.

He couldn't feel.

Everything was on fire, yet he felt exponential numbness throughout his entire being.

The darkness inspired a fear to course through his veins that was so petrifying he could not sleep at night. Every noise was magnified to a boom and all around him, he felt as if the walls were closing in.

"Ron…" Fleur whispered. "I know you've been going through a hard time… but there are people here who still love you… your mother especially… with Harry and Ginny gone… the rest of the family not coming over and Death Eaters continually making threats to us… you're the only hope she has left…"

Hope?

He didn't want to be hope…

He wanted to disappear…

"Please say something…" she begged quietly through the dark. "Please…"

When he did not respond, she bit back the hot tears in her eyes and sighed.

"I'm sorry for everything that has happened to you, Ron," she whispered. "But you're not the only one who lost Harry…"

She felt him stiffen in the dark and knew she had hit the right chord. She reached out to take his hand and this time he did not pull away.

"It's going to get better. You just have to hope."

He didn't want to hope…

He wanted to die…

**A/N: I know some of you were wondering where I was. Well, it was spring break, so I **_**took**_** a break. (Plus there was no internet where I was so I couldn't really update) I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I know some of you don't exactly like Hermione right now, but please stick with me. I'm not going to promise you that it gets any better, but bear with me anyway!**

**MaeSilverpaws1:** There's not a lot to hold on to at this point, as you can probably tell. Dealing with the death of a loved one is hard enough without the guilt. I think Hermione's still blames herself a lot for what happened. Until she stops, I don't think a kick in the butt will do much good!

**sklu:** Hermione's not exactly huggable right now, but maybe later. As for Ron, one of those magical eyes is already creepy. Two would just make him worse than no eyes at all.

**rhr4eva:** Ron should get to have new eyes. Please don't cry!

**Cantletharrygo:** That's the one thing I'm going to miss. Writing about those gorgeous ice blue eyes again… I can still think about it though… Ron does retreat into himself a lot. I think Hermione knows that, but at the moment, she's more worried about what might happen if he blames her for what happened. (Weird, but a bit understandable, right?) I love Luna too!!

**OzDust:** I'm glad you liked that chapter. I was afraid it would be confusing, but thanks for the review! You're exactly like Neville! So optimistic! (That's a good thing by the way!) These chapters are getting a little depressing. We'll see if you're right about your ideas.

**nextbestthing:** Oh my dear friend, I am so sorry for not replying sooner, but as I said above, I was out of town and I didn't have access to my computer. Thanks for checking in on me though! It was nice to see that email. You are so amazingly helpful with these chapters and I'm glad you offered to help out with it! I glad you liked Fleur, because in the books she was kind of annoying, so I decided to give her a role that would sort of redeem her and I'm glad you agree. There has to be someone in this story who's trying to piece things back together and at the same time sort of breaking apart herself. As for the Remus/Tonks part, I just had to add that in. Remus was such a big part in Harry's life that it seemed heresy not to add him in. I love the Luna/Neville pairing also. They're so right for each other! Glad you had a great time with your great-grandmother and hope to hear back from you soon. I'll send you the next chapter sometime today, so be on the look out! Cheers!

**ronandmion4ever:** I'm actually still not too sure how I felt about the ending to that last book. It was weird, complete and unsatisfying. It's hard to explain. Hopefully this one isn't weird and unsatisfying. It will be complete… hopefully… You know, I was actually thinking about bringing Sirius back. Not like alive or anything, but his spirit… during the war sequences. You know, like when he appeared with Harry in the last book, but then I was like, ugh! That would be horrible! So I just left him out of it all together. Glad I did! I love torturing Hermione, because she likes to rationalize everything, which makes it so much fun! Though, you are right, her little self-pity sessions do affect others, though in all honesty, Ron isn't trying to hard either. They're both sort of pitying themselves. As for Neville, I love him too! Him and Luna are my favorite characters at the moment. Well, at least you didn't miss school and yes I do know who you're talking about. I'm not sure they'll get over themselves though. Just letting you know ahead of time.

**mgmve2008:** Hermione does need to come to her senses, but so does Ron. I think they're both trapped sort of. (Do you know what I mean?) Oh, I am _loving_ Fleur right now. She's so unbelievably cool in how she handles Ron's pain, the Weasley's resentment towards Hermione and her own problems. Hopefully, Ron will appreciate it eventually. As for Luna, I don't think this will be the last time she tries to knock some sense into Hermione.

**Jenny:** Oh, she definitely feels responsible. I actually liked that little scene with Curtis, only because it shows how much she's detached herself from Ron.

**ObsessedRHShipper:** I'm trying to put as much of Ron and Hermione in there as possible, but it's hard when neither of them are speaking at all.

**kareem33:** Thanks for telling me about the Weasley thing. I think it's fixed now. Hope to hear from you again!

**Danielle:** I'm glad you liked the chapter and the chapter tease! Thanks for reviewing!

**Chapter Tease: (I owe you guys one!)**

"_Hermione, you can't keep doing this to yourself," she whispered. Luna walked over to where Hermione was and sat down beside her on the bed, looking out the window. "How do you think Harry would feel if he saw-"  
_

_Hermione closed her eyes painfully. _

"_Don't bring Harry into this," she said in a low, threatening voice. "Don't you dare…"_

**Short, but I think you know where this is going. And if you don't, then you'll just have to wait and see. **


	42. Entertaining Angels

_I wanna start it over  
I wanna start again  
I wanna new beginning  
One without an end…_

**Something Beautiful by Newsboys**

* * *

"_Harry…"_

What?

"_Harry…"_

Yes… I'm here…

"_Harry, it's time for you to wake up. It's too late for you to be sleeping so long…"_

I'm asleep?

"_Oh come on, don't cry now. You slept so well last night."_

_The voice… it sounded so familiar…_

_Where had he heard it from?_

"_There we go! Look at you!"_

_Harry looked around and caught sight of a small room at the end of the hallway he was standing in. He checked his surroundings quickly before heading over to the room. Something seemed familiar about where he was, but he could not place his finger on it. When he opened the door, he froze at what he saw._

Mum?

_There she was… his mother… _

_She was standing by a crib, smiling lovingly down at the small baby in her arms. Lily Potter ran a finger down the sleepy baby's pudgy cheek before she began to softly hum an old lullaby, shifting back and forth gently as her son stared up at her, entranced by her voice and bright green eyes. _

_Harry watched mutely, unable to comprehend what was happening. _

_His mother was here… holding him…loving him…_

_How could he possibly remember something that happened so long ago?_

_And how could he suddenly feel so safe?_

_He moved towards his mother and watched her carefully, from the way she held him to the way she hummed to him, laughing occasionally when his baby self would yawn. _

_It was a beautiful laugh…_

_Harry could feel tears start to form in his eyes as he continued to watch and he was about to say something when someone else interrupted him. _

"_Lily? Where are you?"_

_Harry's mother never looked away from him as she answered. _

"_I'm here with Harry," she called peacefully, offering the baby a cheeky smile. "Don't tell him I was humming. He always wants me to do that with him."_

"_Lily?"_

_Harry turned when the nursery door opened and James Potter walked in. It looked like he had just come in from work. When he caught sight of Lily with Harry, he grinned and walked over to them. _

"_How is he?"_

_Lily gave James a quick peck on the lips before turning to their son. _

"_He's wonderful. I just woke him up so he's a bit cranky, but I think he'll be better once he's fed," she offered. "How was Remus?"_

_James shrugged, running a hand over Harry's mop of wild black hair. _

"_He's tired."_

_Nodding quietly, Lily began humming again and for a few minutes James watched her before he leaned in and pressed his lips to her temple. _

"_I love you," he whispered into her skin, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding both of them as they swayed back and forth._

_By now, tears were streaming down Harry's face and his heart was aching in his chest as he watched the unbelievable scene before him…_

_Was it real?_

_Or was it just wishful thinking?_

_He tried to speak, but no words came out as he continued to cry. He made a move to go towards them, but something prevented him from doing so. It was as if the dream itself was stopping him from interfering in what was happening in the nursery._

_But why couldn't he talk to them?_

_Why couldn't he tell them that he was scared? That he was tired?_

_Harry was about to attempt to go to them again when something yanked on his gut and tugged him away from the scene and out of unconsciousness. _

Gasping for breath, he sat up quickly and looked around. He immediately reached out for his wand, but it was not there and he then realized he was not anywhere he recognized. The room he was in was larger than that of the Burrow or Grimmauld Place, and it was less crowded. The bed he was lying in was big as well and the windows around him were drawn to prevent the sunlight from flooding in. The walls were white and decorated with the occasional picture of a family Harry did not know or an artifact of some culture he could not identify. There was a small coffee table, couch and chairs in the middle of the room and large nightstands on both sides of his desk. The nightstands were riddled with half used potion bottles, bandages and other medical supplies while the coffee table held a couple of books, some uneaten food and of course a teapot that Harry assumed had long since been used up.

Beyond the covered windows, Harry could hear the distinct sound of waves rolling onto sand and seagulls conversing with one another.

What was going on?

Where _was_ he?

And why couldn't he remember how he got there?

He tried to think of what event might have caused him to be here and after a moment's contemplation, it all came crashing down on him like one huge nightmare…

"_GINNY!" Harry screamed, getting to his feet. "GINNY!"_

_Ginny grabbed Greyback's head and ripped him away from her, her eyes widening as blood spilled all over the snow. She whirled him around and threw him into a large evergreen tree, screaming at the beast before turning to Harry. _

"_KILL HIM HARRY!" she shrieked. "KILL-"_

"_AVADA KERDAVA!"_

_She let out a wail of agony, but remained standing. Instead, she turned to Voldemort, eyes blazing. _

"_You can't kill me anymore!" she growled, returning to Harry. "KILL HIM!"_

_Bellatrix looked incensed. _

"_NO!" she screeched. "AVADA KERDAVA!"_

_Ginny stepped in front of the curse and took the pain before disappearing and reappearing right in front of Bellatrix, grabbing the woman by the throat. _

"_It's time for you to shut the hell up!" she snarled before flicking her wrist slightly and feeling the woman grow limp._

_Harry turned to Voldemort, who had seen the whole thing with a growing rage. _

"_NO!" the Dark Lord screamed. "IT WILL NOT END THIS WAY! AVADA KERDAVA!"_

"_AVADA KERDAVA!"_

"Oh my God," he whispered. "I'm alive…" He patted himself down to make sure that statement was true and winced when hot pain shot through him from several different parts on his body. "I'm alive…"

He looked around again.

Where was he then?

It obviously wasn't England. The sound of the ocean was too considerable for it to be England.

Then where?

Why wasn't he at St. Mungos?

He reached up to run a hand through his hair and realized that it was much longer than he remembered.

How long had he been unconscious?

And why wasn't there anyone around?

Where was everyone?

Were they dead?

That question was followed by a surge of pain to course through him and it forced him to lie back down as he struggled to calm himself.

What was going on?

Why could he hear the ocean and why were the pictures on the walls around him of people he had never seen before?

And why had he dreamed of a time he knew he could not have possibly remembered?

It took him a few minutes to gain control of the panic that was running wild through his body. When he had he sat up again, looking around the room for the third time. His eyes landed on the coffee table.

Someone else was obviously here.

But where?

And why were they keeping him here?

Something began tapping on the window and after a moment's hesitation, Harry stumbled out of bed and slowly made his way to the window. He could now feel the bandages around his chest squeezing tightly and it was making it harder for him to move, but he did make it to the window anyway. He pulled the drapes and immediately reeled back at the brilliance of the morning light that swamped the room in a warm glow.

Harry blinked a few times before he looked out again.

"Whoa…"

The scene was breathtaking.

The beach just beyond the balcony was empty and serene, marred only by the occasional squawking gull that zoomed by. The sun reflected wonderfully off of the crystal blue water that glittered and winked at him as it moved up and down the white sand beach.

Where the hell was he?

_Tap! Tap! Tap!_

Harry returned his gaze to the balcony and his entire mood brightened upon seeing a snowy white owl trying to get inside.

"Hedwig!" he exclaimed merrily, opening the window and letting her in. She flew in and after circling the room a couple of times, she landed on his shoulder and tweaked his ear in greeting, making very welcoming sounds.

"I missed you too," he told her, running his hand over her soft, white feathers before looking around. "Do you know where we are?"

Hedwig tilted her head towards the bedroom door, her fierce eyes telling him exactly where to get answers. He nodded and after one last glance back out the window towards the beach, he left the room. When he went into the hallway, he noticed that there were a few more bedrooms on the floor he was on and after searching them, he came to the conclusion that they were all the same color.

He also noticed that no one was sleeping in the other rooms.

Hedwig nipped his ear again, tilting her head down the stairs where a heavenly aroma was wafting up. His stomach growled loudly and immediately following he swore he heard someone giggle, but it was so soft he assumed he was making it up.

Taking a deep breath, he started down the stairs, taking his time to make sure he didn't injure himself in any way. He looked around a little when he reached the bottom of the staircase and realized that the house he was in was just like the one they had stayed at in Germany. The one Hermione, Luna and Neville had stayed at when they had come. The outer walls of the lower level were all glass and there was a large balcony just beyond it, exposing him to the beauty of the ocean.

His bird, however, was growing impatient and after another peck at his ear, flew off in the direction of the amazing smell. He followed her towards the kitchen and stopped just at the door, eyes widening at what he saw and heard.

Ginny Weasley was standing at the stove, wearing nothing but a bikini and a long wrap around her waist. Her skin practically matched the repetitive white washed walls, making her long, ginger hair stick out obnoxiously. She was pushing scrambled eggs around a pan and keeping a close eye on something else that was one the stove, all the while humming a familiar tune to herself.

Hedwig came to rest on the counter beside her and she looked over at the bird, a smile on her face.

"Hey girl," she said. "Is he staring at me?" She glanced over her shoulder at a shocked Harry before returning to Hedwig. "Catching flies," she muttered.

Harry continued to stare at her, unable to comprehend what was really going on.

"That's the lullaby from my dream," he whispered. "How… how do you know it?"

Ginny placed the eggs in a platter before turning to face him. The look on her face was one of apprehension and with a hint of hopefulness. It was as if she knew something like this would happen, but did not know how to feel about it.

"Your mother sang it, didn't she?"

Harry frowned.

"But how-"

She pointed to the kitchen table across from her near a large floor to ceiling window overlooking the pathway that led from the house to the beach.

"You should sit down, Harry," she suggested. "You need to eat something."

Ginny saw him hesitate and knew he was still confused on a lot of things, especially her appearance. Sighing, she walked over to him and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"I'll explain everything after you start eating," she whispered into his ear before moving back to the stove. "Go sit down, Harry."

Harry obliged unwillingly and sat down at the table, staring out the window as he tried to sort things out.

Ginny was here…

Had she been the one taking care of him?

Had she been the one to bring him here?

He looked up when Ginny placed a plate full of food in front of him. She then sat across from him with just a glass of dark crimson liquid. When he raised an eyebrow to the amount of food in front of him, she smiled and shook her head.

"If you saw how you looked, you would understand my sudden attack of Molly Weasley syndrome," she commented. "Please eat, Harry," she added with a hint of pleading in her voice.

Still, he just stared at her so she sighed and disapparated quickly in a cloud of black smoke. She reappeared a few seconds later holding a full length mirror. She watched as shock flooded his eyes at what he saw.

Along with his long hair and tight bandages, his entire body had changed significantly. His skin wasn't even pale. It was grayish, like it had not seen the sun for the longest time. It also stretched over his bones tightly making him look severely emaciated and weak. His eyes were sunken into his skull and seemed deadened from lack of use.

Ginny saw the powerless look overcome his face and she quickly disposed of the mirror. A black circle appeared in the ceiling and she threw the long mirror up through it before it the circle vanished. The shattering of glass could be heard from the stairs, but Ginny ignored it by pointing to the food with beseeching eyes.

"_Please_ eat something," she pleaded. "Please…"

He nodded and after a moment's hesitation, he picked up a fork and began eating the food, still slightly disturbed by what he had just seen. Soon he resembled Ron in the way he wolfed down the eggs and toast and that only made Ginny smile more.

"I knew you were hungry," she said triumphantly.

After a few minutes, he finished and sat up straight, watching her as she took small sips of her drink. He took in her docile appearance and how calm she was. It was as if she had gone through a very painful experience and waiting for some anticlimactic ending.

Was his waking up not that important to her?

Or had something else happened that made her seem less eager to see him again?

What had happened?

She caught his look and sighed, setting down her glass.

"Okay… so first of all, you'll have to excuse my lack of enthusiasm in you waking up… this isn't the first time you've done it," she whispered.

Harry frowned.

"What do you mean?"

Ginny pointed to his hair.

"Your hair might have tipped you off that it's been a while since the war ended… it's been almost three months," she told him. She saw him about to speak and held up her hand to stop him. "Before you start asking about why we've been here that long, I think I should answer one question at a time… so, um… since then, you've woken up five times."

Harry did not look happy about this.

"Five times? I don't remember… why?"

Ginny looked down at her glass and gripped it firmly.

"The first time you woke up was a week after we came here and you…" she took a deep breath. "You attacked me…"

"What?!" Harry yelped, standing up.

Ginny pointed at the seat.

"Harry, sit down," she snapped. "You shouldn't stress yourself too much… besides, it wasn't just me. It was the Healer also. Ernest Shankton. And you didn't even hurt me so don't worry about it…"

He hesitated for a moment before sitting back down.

"What else?"

Ginny shrugged.

"The first couple of times you'd wake up and then we'd have to knock you out… you were hallucinating most of the time. The last three times, you seemed fine at first… then something would happen and you'd be completely manic… Post traumatic stress, Ernest calls it. Triggered by a sound or a flash of light," she added, watching him carefully. "I'm hoping it wore off…"

For a few minutes Harry remained silent, trying to digest everything he had been told so far.

He had attacked Ginny… but according to Ginny, it wasn't his fault…

According to Ginny…

"Why don't I remember it?" he asked.

For the first time since he'd seen her, her demeanor changed completely. Now she looked guilty.

"Um… well… the potions that were supposed to make you sleep weren't working," she muttered. "You were in a state of hysteria, Harry and we couldn't make you take them. You thought we were Death Eaters the entire time. We had to _physically_ knock you out…"

Harry's eyes widened.

"You mean-"

Ginny looked up at him.

"Let's just say that not all of the injuries you have _now_ are from Voldemort," she whispered bitterly.

"Oh…"

They sat in silence for a while before Ginny spoke.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You've got a few broken bones and gashes all over you. You need to tell me if anything hurts… I'll call Ernest… though I should call him anyway, since you're awake. He needs to look at you… make sure you don't… go crazy again…"

She was about to get up when his voice stopped her.

"Where are we?" he asked.

Ginny pointed out the window, a small smile on her face.

"We're on a remote island in the Bermuda Triangle, to be precise. I don't know what it's called, but its Ernest's vacation home and he offered it to us to stay," she told him.

Harry looked up at her and she immediately knew his next question.

"Why are we here?" he asked.

Ginny slid back into her seat and began fiddling with her glass again, swishing the dark liquid around a little.

"After…" she bit her lip and shook her head. "No… I need to go back a bit further… when I was talking to Dumbledore after you dropped the mirror, he told me about all the possible outcomes of the war… most of them ended with you dying anyway…" Harry stiffened, but let her continue. "But he told me about this world renowned Healer who was willing to help us if you did kill Voldemort."

"Ernest Shankton," Harry cut in and Ginny nodded slowly.

"Yeah… um… Dumbledore told me about the island he had in the Caribbean and how it would be a perfect place to take you… to get better…"

Harry did not understand at all.

"Why not take me to St. Mungos? Why here?"

Ginny could see the frustration rising in his eyes and knew that he wanted to know everything immediately, but she wanted to take this slowly. Too much information could be harmful to his health.

"Harry, you need to understand… this wasn't just for your sake… it was for everyone's sake," she whispered.

"What?"

Ginny looked down at her glass and took a quick drink before setting it down.

"If everyone thought you were alive and then you died in the hospital… it would have been devastating… I took you here to make sure that… if something _did_ happen…" Here she began to tear up and for a moment, it looked as if she was going to cry. He made a move to go over to her, but she held up her hand and shook her head. Ginny took a quick breath before she continued. "Dumbledore suggested that everyone automatically think you died killing Voldemort so that we would have time to get you better without the distraction of an entire country…"

Harry was quiet for a couple of minutes before he spoke.

"So you brought me here to insure that I would live?"

Ginny nodded.

"Once you're better I'll take you back to England," she told him.

He hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"So Voldemort's dead?"

"Yes…"

"So everyone thinks I'm dead?"

Ginny bit her lip and nodded again.

"Yeah…"

Another tense silence fell upon them and Ginny could tell that he was not going to be talking again anytime soon so she got up and walked over to Hedwig. She whispered something to the bird and opened a window, letting her out. Ginny watched the owl fly away before she glanced over at Harry, who was just staring down at his empty plate mutely.

"I'll be outside if you need me," she told him. When he didn't answer, she walked out of the kitchen, leaving him to sit at the table and contemplate.

* * *

Twenty minutes had passed since Ginny had gone out to the beach and she finally heard him come outside and move down the small sandy path towards her, moving slowly and stiffly as he went. She remained where she was on the sand where the water rolled up, covering her bare feet before receding back into the ocean. She continued to hum to herself until he sat down beside her silently and stared out into the expansive sea of blue and glittering white.

"So they think I'm dead?" he asked again.

Ginny closed her eyes and sighed.

"Yes, Harry," she replied painfully.

"Who's they?"

Ginny froze at the question.

"What?"

Harry turned to look her straight in the eyes. They shined with so much pain that it hurt her to look back at them.

"Who survived, Ginny?" he asked.

She shook her head and looked away.

"I really don't think you're ready to hear that-"

He grabbed her arm roughly and forced her to look at him.

"Ginny please," he begged. "Tell me."

Ginny's eyes welled up with tears.

"Harry…" she whispered, trying to keep it together. "The explosion in the woods… it reached a lot of them…"

Harry shook his head.

"No…"

Ginny bit her lip as tears began to flow down her cheeks.

"Hermione was heading for the train tracks and Remus… he… they didn't have time…"

Harry released her and stood up, tears coming to his own eyes.

"No…"

Ginny stood up and placed a hand on his shoulder, looking deep into his eyes.

"Harry," she started, tears streaming down her face. "They're… they're all alive," she finished.

_What?_

For a moment they were silent before Harry spoke.

"What?"

Ginny couldn't hold it in any longer and she burst out laughing, pointing at his face.

"You should have seen the look on your face!" she giggled hysterically. "Oh Harry, you were so priceless!"

Harry didn't understand.

"Wait, what?" he snapped.

Ginny grinned and took his face in her hands, kissing him fully on the lips.

"They're all alive," she told him with a huge smile on her face.

He stared at her for a moment before he made a move to grab her. She took off down the beach with him hot on her heels.

"That wasn't funny, Ginny!" he roared as she ran away from him, laughing the entire time. "GINNY!"

She eluded him for the most part because he was much weaker than she was and partially because every time she slowed down to let him catch up, she would just implode in a cloud of black dust and reappear a few meters away, laughing at him.

Finally she let him catch up with her and tackle her to the ground, holding her down as he glared at her.

"That wasn't funny, Ginny," he complained. "I really thought-"

She easily flipped him over onto his back so that she was straddling him.

"I know," she crooned. "But I just couldn't help it. You were so depressing inside right after you woke up and I thought it would be nice to lighten the mood."

He shook his head at her.

"That's not funny," he muttered as he tried to get her off of him, but she wouldn't budge. "Oh come on! No fair!"

She grinned and stood up, helping him off the sand.

"Vampire baby," she said.

Harry hesitated, but decided not to say anything about it. They would have time to talk about _that_ later.

She led him back to the house where a tall, tanned man was standing in the living room with Hedwig on his arm. When he heard them come in, he immediately took hold of Harry and forced him into the kitchen and made him sit down at the table. Ginny followed close behind and sat down as well, once again latching herself onto her glass of red fluid. Ernest cast a disapproving glance her way as he waved his wand over Harry's many bandages.

"I saw you two running around. Ginerva, you know he's not supposed to be moving too much," he said sternly and Ginny shifted a little in her chair.

"Sorry… slipped my mind… I guess I was concentrating too much on the fact that he was perfectly _sane_ this time," she replied.

Harry glanced over at her.

"Sane?"

Ernest grabbed Harry's head and forced him to stare into the wand light the older man had forced in front of him. Ginny smiled at the action.

"Yes, sane. Like I said before, the other five times you woke up, you weren't necessarily ready to be awake."

Ernest glanced over at Ginny again.

"And you were all too ready to smash his head into the nearest wall," he commented.

"What?!"

Ginny rolled her eyes and took a sip from her glass.

"I was _not_ all too ready to smash his head," she retorted irritably. "I was ready for whatever crazy antics he was going to think up."

"Thanks," Harry muttered before he frowned when he saw her drink the red stuff again. "What _is_ that?"

Ginny and Ernest stiffened and Harry paled.

"It's not human is it?" he asked quickly and Ginny instantly shook her head.

"No!" she snapped. "No it's not!" She made a face. "That's disgusting… it's from a cow…"

Harry snorted.

"Right, and _that's_ not disgusting," he muttered.

Ginny bit her lip.

"Well… I _could_ drink human blood, but that's just revolting," she told him. "I have to drink blood though… but only once a month…"

"And the other times?"

Ginny shrugged, watching Ernest as he finished checking Harry.

"Regular food… mostly rare meat…"

"Nice."

Ernest smiled.

"Well, Mr. Potter, it seems as if most of your injuries are healing nicely. I suggest not running around on the beach anymore and drinking the potions I prescribed," he said before turning to Ginny. "I'll come back tonight to check on him."

Harry frowned.

"Tonight? Again?"

Ginny nodded.

"Harry, I want to get back to England just as badly as you do and the best way to do that is to make sure you are perfectly healthy. Ernest has to come twice a day to make sure that happens."

Harry nodded and after saying goodbye, Ernest left them. Ginny quickly finished her glass of cow's blood before she picked up the dishes and placed them into the sink. She pulled out her wand and flicked it at the dishes, causing them to wash themselves. As she was doing this, she began to hum to herself again, making Harry realize that there was something he had forgotten to ask her about.

"Where did you hear that lullaby?" he asked quietly.

"Your dream."

Harry glanced over at her.

"My dream? How-"

"It's not really a dream, Harry," she cut in, coming over to the table. She opened the windows facing the ocean and immediately a cool breeze flowed through, moving across her pale skin and warming it. "It's a memory."

Harry frowned.

"A memory?"

Ginny nodded, sitting down across from him.

"When you first arrived here, it wasn't looking good… I thought you were going to die…" she told him. "Dumbledore suggested that we remove your memories… just in case…"

"Remove my memories?"

She nodded again, turning to look out the window.

"A telepath named Finneas came and he removed all of your good memories, including those from your childhood," she responded. "It was actually pretty amazing to see."

"You removed my memories?"

Ginny smiled and turned to see him staring at her incredulously.

"Harry, you can't very well know what someone's best moments were if that person is dead," she whispered. "Besides, Finneas said that giving you back your memories might help in the healing process. And it did… you slept peacefully and some of your injuries healed faster than expected."

Harry shook his head.

"But that one with my mother… I couldn't have possibly remembered that," he whispered.

Ginny pulled her knees up on the chair to her chest and rested her chin on top of them, staring out into the water as another cool breeze passed through the window, blanketing them in warm ocean spray.

"Finneas says that we do have memories at that age, but around the age of five, our brains lock them up somewhere to maintain their purity. Those first years are the most innocent stages of life so the brain preserves them. Finneas was able to get in and dig them out for me."

Harry frowned.

"But how do you know about the lullaby?"

Ginny shrugged.

"I'm the one who's been giving you the memories," she told him. "I sorted them out and looked at each one to decide which one to give you each night." She frowned. "I was very upset to see that your first kiss with Cho was one of your best moments though."

Harry's eyes widened.

"What?!"

Ginny rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Kidding… _kidding_…" she said. "Don't start apologizing for your first kiss with that girl."

Harry watched her for a moment and then a thought occurred to her.

She had been here by herself for the past two and a half months… the former part of that thinking he was going to die… it must have been horrible for her…

"It was…"

Harry jerked at hearing her voice and gave her a funny look.

"I could tell what you were thinking by the look on your face," she explained with a smile. "You looked horrible, Harry… and… even after you started waking up… Ernest said you probably wouldn't make it… I've never been more terrified in my life."

When he saw the tears resurface in her eyes, he stood up and pulled her to him, hugging her as tightly as he could. She clung to him lightly, knowing that if she squeezed him any harder she could crush his chest.

"I'm so sorry, Ginny," he whispered. "You shouldn't have had to go through that."

Ginny pulled away from him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips before shaking her head.

"You should be more worried about Ron and Hermione… they're getting the worst of this…"

Harry went pale again. "What happened to them?"

Ginny looked away from his eyes.

"The Healers… they were unable to save Ron's eyes… he's blind," she told him.

Harry released Ginny and dropped back into his seat with a huge thump, too stunned to be a bit more graceful.

"Blind?"

Ginny nodded painfully.

"The last letter from Dumbledore said that he's been keeping to his room since he came back to the Burrow…"

"The Burrow was rebuilt?"

Ginny nodded again but did not seem too happy about it.

"Yes, but Dumbledore says that most of the family stays away from it. Bill and Fleur are the only two who visit," she whispered before looking up at him. "I think Hermione's given up all together." She took a deep breath and ran a hand down his face. "That's why it's important that you not strain yourself so you can get better…"

Harry nodded and leaned in to kiss her. They stood there for a moment, just holding each other before he pulled her closer and tried to deepen the kiss. Ginny grinned and pulled away, shaking her head.

"_That_, Mr. Potter, would count as straining yourself," she said in a voice that carefully mimicked Ernest's perfectly. When Harry laughed, her eyes brightened and she hugged him. "That's what I've been waiting two months to hear…"

Harry leaned in and pressed his lips to her temple, holding her close as she began to hum the lullaby again.

"I love you, Ginny," he whispered and a warm feeling passed over her.

She pulled away and looked up at him through loving eyes, a cheeky smile teasing her lips.

"You know… I think we can afford to strain you a little," she said, leaning in and kissing him teasingly. "Of course, that's only if you can keep up?"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Keep up?" he repeated knowingly and though she could no longer blush, he could tell she would have.

She leaned in so that their lips were barely touching.

"When I said I'd cool you down in the forest, I didn't mean I'd have sex with you," she murmured. "I'm pregnant."

Harry's face contorted.

"Oh great, thanks for ruining the mood," he muttered and she laughed, kissing him passionately before she pulled away completely and walked over to where Hedwig was still perched.

"If you change your mind, tell me," she said as she stroked the owl's feathers.

Harry watched her for a minute before he walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her, resting his hands on her stomach and his chin on her shoulder, holding her close.

"Can I just hold you?" he asked.

Ginny leaned into him, closing her eyes.

"Yes," she replied slowly, enjoying the unbelievable warmth he provided.

They were silent for a while, swaying back and forth while Ginny hummed 'Weasley is Our King'. Harry joined in a few seconds later and she smiled at this.

Harry rubbed her stomach and then spoke.

"_So…_ are you going to be getting fat any time soon?" he asked, trying to hide the smirk on his face. Ginny's eyes bulged as a laugh escaped her lips.

"Harry!"

* * *

A few hours later found Harry and Ginny and the huge bedroom he had woken up in. Harry was lying on the bed while Ginny was sitting at the coffee table, reading _Pride and Prejudice_.

Hedwig was perched on one of the posters of the bed, observing the two occupants with little interest, occasionally hooting just to draw attention to herself.

Harry was watching Ginny read, going over everything she had told him had happened since the war had ended.

The world thought he was dead….

Ron and Hermione thought he was dead…

Though he understood Dumbledore's reasons for bringing him to a remote Caribbean island to be healed instead of St. Munogs, he could not understand why he couldn't at least tell the Weasleys.

Why couldn't Ginny's family know?

Why couldn't _his_ family know?

"If you think too hard, your head will explode."

He looked up to see Ginny staring at him with an amused look on her face.

"What?"

Ginny scrunched up her face and scowled at him.

"You've been glaring at me for a while," she pointed out. "Like this."

Harry tried to change his facial description. "I didn't mean to… I was just thinking, that's all."

Ginny stood up and went over to him, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"About what?"

Harry looked down at his hands.

"Your family… they think I'm dead… why can't they know?"

If it was possible, Ginny paled even more.

"Because… if they knew, then everyone would know."

"Your family wouldn't-"

"They wouldn't have to, Harry," she interrupted with a smile. She reached out and took his hands in hers, running her fingers over his. "You of all people know how hard it is to keep a secret so big, especially with the whole world watching…"

He nodded slowly, understanding her logic but his mind instantly jumped to something more serious.

"They must be worried sick about you," he said, looking up at her. "Do they think-"

Ginny instantly shook her head, but her facial expression told him that the thought of what her family was going through hurt her more than she was able to let on.

"No!" she snapped before pursing her lips and thinking over her next words carefully. "They don't think I'm dead… they… they just don't know where I am…"

"You haven't talked to them at all?"

Ginny shook her head.

"It was best for all of us if I didn't come back… it would be too… _obvious_…" she muttered, but he could tell that she desperately wanted to see her family again. Harry could see the desire in her eyes and it pained him to know that she had been separated from them because of him. He watched quietly while she held his hands, taking deep breaths as she felt his pulse. After a moment, Harry reached out and placed two fingers to her neck and his eyes widened a little when he felt her pulse pounding against her skin. Ginny pulled his hand away from her throat and placed it over her heart, where it raced madly against her chest.

"My body has to produce and pump twice as much blood because of the baby," she explained quietly.

Harry stared at her for a moment before pulling his hand away and looking away from her.

"Did it hurt?" he asked. "When it happened?"

Ginny bit her lip, her mind flashing back to that moment…

"_Now either you kill me or you give me Roxanne's baby so she can live!" she snapped._

_There was one of the loudest shrieks that shook the house before Viorel flashed over to Ginny, grabbing her and yanking her over to Roxanne and forcing her to lay beside the dying woman. Outside, they could hear the screams of vampires, fighting to get inside for Ginny's blood. _

_Constantine, seeing no other option, moved to help Viorel, strapping both women down on the slab before looking down at Ginny. He carefully pulled up her shirt and rested his cold hands on her stomach; closing his eyes as the smell of her blood grew more potent and the screams from outside grew louder. For a moment he concentrated before he opened his mouth, baring pointed teeth. Ginny released a startled yelp when she felt his nails begin to dig into her skin._

_The small boy's eyes opened and he looked down at her shocked eyes._

"_This is going to hurt."_

_Screams ripped through her throat as Constantine ripped her skin wide open. In that instant, everything was on fire. _

_The pain was so excruciating that she couldn't even think. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't die…_

"_Viorel, begin the final stage!" Constantine ordered, leaving Ginny's side when Viorel began drinking the blood that gushed from Ginny's body as she continued to shriek on the slab. _

_In three seconds, Roxanne was in the same condition and ten seconds later, both women were no longer screaming. _

_They were no longer breathing either._

_Constantine had to drag Viorel away from Ginny's limp body, ignoring the snarling, lusting snarls the male released at being separated from the intoxicating blood. _

Ginny remembered waking up in so much pain…

It had been a horrible few hours, but then after that, the pain focused towards her lower abdomen region. Then it disappeared, along with all sense of mortality.

"It hurt a little," she whispered in reply.

Harry snorted.

"You're not a very good liar, Gin," he commented and she sighed.

She was the last person Harry should be worried about. She wasn't mortal anymore. She did not need to be looked after. _He_ did.

"Okay, so it hurt a lot, but I survived it and you should stop worrying about this baby," she whispered.

"That baby is the reason you were _in_ pain," he responded.

Ginny took his face in her hands and kissed him quickly.

"That pain could never compare to the amount of pain I went through when you killed Voldemort," she whispered. "I thought I'd lost you…"

Harry could see the pain in her eyes and he pulled her to him, holding her tightly. Ginny bit her lip and clung to him as gently as she could so she didn't hurt him, but hard enough so that he knew she needed him.

"I guess the tables turned on you, Harry," she murmured into his skin.

"What do you mean?"

Ginny pulled away so that she could look into his eyes and he saw the tears in her own.

"You were always worried about me dying," she said. "Now for the next nine years, I can't… so I guess I'll have to worry about you…"

Harry couldn't help but smile.

"I suppose that's okay," he said. "As long as you stay close."

A huge smile plastered itself to Ginny's face and she pulled him back into a suffocating embrace.

"I'll stay close as long as you don't do anything stupid," she laughed into his neck.

"Um… Ginny," Harry gasped, pain shooting up his spine. "My back… I think you're breaking it!"

Her eyes bulged and she immediately released him, a look of embarrassment coming over her face.

"Oh… sorry," she muttered.

Harry frowned.

"Wait… did you just say _nine_ years?" he asked, shock written all over his face.

She nodded timidly, placing a light hand over her stomach.

"Since I'm not drinking human blood, the baby is going to take nine years to develop… but don't worry! It's not like I'm going to be getting progressively larger over the next few years. The baby won't show until the ninth year," she assured him.

"And then what?"

Ginny shrugged.

"It's not going to be a vampire, if that's what you're asking," she told him. "It's going to be a normal human baby."

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"A normal human baby?" he repeated incredulously and Ginny nodded.

"Roxanne says that the child will grow till it reaches the age of seventeen and then he or she will decide if they want to become a vampire. Then it happens."

"Just like that?"

Ginny nodded, smiling at his surprise.

"It's a relatively simple process that happens more often than the wizarding world knows…" She thought about that statement and shrugged. "Well, to be honest, the wizarding world doesn't even _know_ vampires can have babies… but nonetheless, it's common."

"Then why aren't there vampires running all over the place?"

Ginny shook her head.

"Roxanne told me that most of the children choose not to become vampires, mostly because of friendships and such. Besides, with the nine year gestation thing and trust issues between the female vampire and the host, most female vampires choose not to get pregnant very often. Five or six in their eternity and that's it."

Harry smirked.

"Yeah, why have more?" he asked sarcastically and Ginny laughed.

"I'm glad you're taking this so well," she commented and he shrugged, taking her hands in his.

"I'm just glad that I can't lose you anymore," he told her in all seriousness.

Ginny leaned in and kissed him softly before she lay down beside him, keeping a close eye on his breathing and heart rate.

He yawned and she giggled.

"I'm tired," he defended and Ginny grinned.

"You want to go to bed?" she asked, sitting up in the bed.

He raised an eyebrow and sat up as well.

"Why?"

Ginny smiled as she got out of bed and walked over to the far wall. She opened the cabinet door of a small cupboard and Harry's eyes grew.

"Wow," he muttered.

Ginny glanced over at him and motioned him over. He got out of bed as well and walked over beside her, staring at the small crystal vials lining the cupboard.

"Are those mine?" he asked, pointing to the swirling silvery mass moving around within the vials.

Ginny nodded.

"All of them are your good memories… I give you one every night, to help you sleep."

Harry looked at her.

"Which one were you going to give me tonight?" he asked softly and she grinned.

"Why don't you fall asleep and I'll show you," she responded nonchalantly.

Harry wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned into her ear.

"I want to dream of you," he whispered and she actually shivered before she turned and pointed to the bed.

"Then go to sleep," she told him before pulling a specific vial out of the cupboard. "And I'll make sure you dream well."

Harry leaned in and kissed her.

"What about you?"

Ginny shrugged.

"I haven't slept for two months, Harry… but I think tonight I'll make an exception," she whispered.

He kissed her again all the while pulling her to the bed with him.

"I wouldn't have it any other way…"

**A/N: HARRY'S ALIVE! I know most of you thought he was, but it I thought I'd verify your insights. Not the best of circumstances, but things are getting better! And I know this is not what you read in the chapter tease, but I couldn't very well give you anything from **_**this**_** chapter.**

**MaeSilverpaws1:** Very true! I'm glad you liked that scene! I decided to take a little trip away from the depressing scenes of Ron and Hermione, to the much more cheerful scene of Harry and Ginny!

**ThEnAmEsGiGi:** To be really honest, neither did I. I actually never thought I would get this far in the story. I hope this one wasn't too terribly sad!

**OzDust:** I love Neville, Luna, and Fleur because they're trying so hard to help Hermione and Ron. I'm glad you liked the little segway from Hermione and Ron's problems to Bill and Fleur. Ron and Hermione do need each other, but at the moment, I think the readers need a break from the depressing. I'll get back to them though!

**nextbestthing:** Thanks so much! I don't know anything about the Maximum Rides series, but if I get time I'll check it out. I thought it would be appropriate to put the whole suicide thing in with Hermione because we all knew she was feeling guilty, but we didn't really know _how_ guilty because she was acting all funny in the previous chapter. Can't wait to hear what you have to say about the next chapter!

**Jenny:** Those were pretty intense scenes weren't they? Oh no, I'll tell you when the last chapter is coming. At the moment, I don't know when that is, but I'll tell you when it comes around.

**mgmve2008:** Fleur might be talking more sense into them in the next couple of chapters. I still have faith in Hermione's love for Ron as well. But she doesn't have faith in herself at the moment. Neither does Ron.

**rhr4eva:** You know that comment about it getting depressing actually made me switch the chapters. This chapter was supposed to come after next, but I decided that you should have it now. Please don't hate Hermione for ever! And don't be mad at me either! :-)

**Blue Leah:** _Very_ emotional chapter. It's funny you mentioned Harry and Ginny in that sense. You're just a little telepath aren't you?

**wow60:** She definitely should not have left him, but I think Luna and Neville are going to have some trouble getting it through to her. It will get worse if she doesn't come to.

**No Chapter tease right now. You already got the one for the next chapter!**


	43. Pleasure to Meet You, Again

_When my dreams are over  
And my feet hit the floor  
Is my will enough to move on?  
When we fight to get back  
The love that we've lost  
Will my hands be enough to push on…  
Tell me will I have enough to go on…_

**Nothing Left to Lose by Needtobreathe**

* * *

Fred looked up from the register when the door bell rang and his brother walked in with Fleur trailing behind. The French woman looked around the shop uneasily, not wanting to touch anything that could potentially leave a mark on her spotless skin.

"Bill? What are you doing here?" he asked, watching as they approached the counter. Bill leaned on it and glanced around quickly while Fleur stood a little ways away, looking extremely out of place against the obnoxious supplies in the twins' store.

"The shop looks great, Fred," he said.

"Thanks," Fred muttered, looking between the couple curiously. "Is there anything that you need?"

Fleur looked to her husband before she spoke.

"Your mother wants you and George to come over for dinner tonight," she explained.

Fred immediately shook his head as he returned to the register.

"We can't."

"Why not?"

"Busy."

"Doing what?" Bill asked incredulously.

"Fred, that shipment of steam from the States just came in. We can start working on it tonight if…" George trailed off when he noticed that his eldest brother and his wife were also in front. "Oh… hey."

Fleur raised an eyebrow.

"You will be playing with steam? That is why you cannot come?"

"Come where?" George asked, walking over.

"The Burrow for dinner," Bill snapped, giving Fred a nasty glare. "Apparently you two are busy."

George paled a little and shifted from foot to foot, as if trying to come up with a decent excuse to avoid the depressing place.

"Well, we've got a lot of work to do and-"

Fleur slapped both of them hard, glaring at them.

"You two should be ashamed of yourselves," she hissed. "Your mother has been crying for months, your brother is going though the worst situation imaginable and you two can't even come over for dinner!"

She began cursing at them in French as she stormed out of the shop, leaving the twins to their brother's wrath. Bill shook his head at them.

"Ron's not doing any better and mum just wants life back in that house. So why don't you two find your balls, put them back on and come over," he growled viciously before leaving as well.

* * *

"Hermione," Luna whispered, opening the door to her room. "Neville and I are leaving."

Hermione turned to see her friend standing there and nodded slowly.

"Okay… I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she replied tiredly.

Luna hesitated before speaking again.

"Um… well, I came up to ask if you'd like to come with us to the Burrow? Mrs. Weasley invited us over for dinner and…"

She trailed off when she saw Hermione begin to shake her head. Luna knew that the topic of Ron hurt the young woman, but it hurt more that Hermione was so unwilling to let go of the guilt she harbored. She knew Ron didn't blame her for what she did, but that did not make a difference. Hermione still blamed herself.

"Hermione, you can't keep doing this to yourself," she whispered. Luna walked over to where Hermione was and sat down beside her on the bed, looking out the window. "How do you think Harry would feel if he saw-"

Hermione closed her eyes painfully.

"Don't bring Harry into this," she said in a low, threatening voice. "Don't you dare…"

Luna turned to her.

"Then stop blaming yourself!" she snapped. "Hermione, this wasn't your fault! You did the only thing you could possibly do and that's it. You need to put it in the past and move forward!"

Hermione opened her eyes.

"Luna, that's easy for you to say. You never-"

"Neville almost died because I allowed him to turn into Harry," Luna cut in quickly and darkly. "_I_ was the one who was supposed to keep an eye on him in case things got to bad and guess what? Neville almost died! But do you see me sulking in a corner trying to kill myself?"

"Luna-"

The blonde stood up forcefully and glared down at Hermione.

"Ron's _alive_, Hermione," she snapped. "He's alive and now you're letting him waste away because you're feeling guilty over something you couldn't control! Stop it!"

To Luna's surprise and slight horror, Hermione completely deflated. Her shoulders shuddered and fell as her eyes shattered into a cloud of blankness. It was as if the last string to Hermione's soul had snapped, leaving her cast out and alone. Like she was trying to breathe, but couldn't…

Luna was about to grab her and shake her, but Hermione looked up quickly through emotionless brown eyes and bit her lip.

"Um…" she stuttered before looking away and out the window. "I um… I think you should go…"

"Hermione-"

"Now," Hermione said in such a detached yet threatening tone that it forced Luna to back away, surprised by what she'd just heard.

What had just happened?

"Luna, we should go," Neville said as he came up to Hermione's door. He hesitated when he saw Hermione's broken form and Luna's rigid appearance, but shook himself out of it very quickly. "What's going on?"

Luna jerked a little before looking over at Neville. Her face clearly expressed surprise and irritation and he immediately knew where it was coming from.

"Hermione seems to be hell bent on ruining Ron's life," she muttered, approaching the door quickly. "Let's leave her to it."

If possible, Hermione's form deflated even more, making her look like a crumpled heap of beaten flesh.

All life was void in her.

Neville looked between the two young women and frowned.

"What did you do, Luna?" he asked quietly when she came to stand beside him. Her eyes widened before narrowing in anger.

"_I_ didn't do anything, Neville."

"But-"

"She's still feeling guilty," Luna snapped. "And all that's doing is hurting the rest of us, including Ron."

"Luna, you can't-"

"She's right."

Neville and Luna turned to see Hermione standing up off her bed and turning to face them.

"What?" Luna asked.

Hermione bit her lip.

"You're right… I am hurting you guys… and I'm sorry…"

Hermione and Luna stared at each other for a moment before Luna went over to her and pulled her into a tight hug, trying not to cry as she held onto Hermione.

Hermione, however, was less successful in keeping her emotions in and just as quickly as she had shut down, she began to sob into Luna's shoulder, clinging to her friend desperately. Neville had to step in and help Hermione stand as she continuously apologized through the painful sobs and choked breaths.

"I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!"

* * *

Mrs. Weasley and Fleur were bustling around the kitchen, trying to get dishes in and out of the oven at rapid speeds while making sure that their husbands stayed on task with their chores. Hopefully they would be done before the rest of the Weasley clan arrived to the Burrow. With the exception of Ginny, of course, though Mrs. Weasley tried not to think about that.

It only made her cry.

"Could you pass me that knife, please?" Fleur asked of her mother-in-law and Mrs. Weasley sent the sharp object zooming delicately into the woman's open hand while keeping her eyes on the boiling potatoes.

"Do you think they'll come?" Mrs. Weasley asked worriedly.

Fleur glanced over at the older woman before returning to the meat.

"I'm sure they will come. It has been two months. They cannot all stay away from family for such a long time without missing it," she said softly. "I'm worried more about Ron."

Mrs. Weasley paled a little and looked up at the ceiling with pained eyes.

"He's been in there for so long…" she murmured before, sadly, looking back to the pot. "He's been so quiet."

_Crack! Crack! Crack!_

"Ow! Gerroff!"

"Oi! That's not me!"

"Then who the hell's on my foot?"

"That would be me."

"Oh… sorry…"

"I thought so."

"Why don't you just open the door?"

"Me? Why do _I_ have to open the door? Why can't _you_ open the door?"

"Because you're closer."

"No I'm not. You're standing right there."

"But you're standing right _there_!"

"You're hand's touching the door. Go open it."

"That hand's not feeling well, so you'd better do it for good measure."

"Oh! Just stand aside, you big babies! It's like you don't want to see your own mother."

"That's not it… we just…"

"Don't want to see…"

"Ron…"

"That's horrible! It's been two months and you two pricks are still on about that?"

"Well…"

"It's difficult, Alicia."

"Yeah… he's blind…"

"And with Harry… you know…"

"And Ginny… you know…"

"And _Hermione_…"

"Yes, yes, but you two should have been there for him instead of going out of your way to avoid…"

"Are you going to open that door or lecture us on how we _could_ have been better brothers, because I'm sure mum, dad and Bill are going to give the exact same lecture when we get inside."

Someone muttered something obscene and a moment later, the back door opened and Alicia marched in with Fred and George trooping in behind her, looking like they were at their first day of school at Hogwarts. When they caught sight of their mother, they immediately took a step backward as if expecting her to attack them for their absence.

Instead, the Weasley matriarch released a loud sob and gathered them up in a bone-crushing hug that rivaled Hagrid's. But instead of protesting and struggling as they used to, they hugged her back with just as much force, whispering apologies to her while Alicia and Fleur watched with teary eyes.

Just then, Bill and his father walked in and smiled at the sight before gently prying Mrs. Weasley away from her sons.

"It's nice for you two to finally show up," Mr. Weasley commented with just a hint of bitterness in his voice, but it was obvious that he was elated that they had come. Alicia hit Fred and George across the backs of their heads before grinning.

"I told them it would be okay," she responded.

_Crack!_

"Bloody hell! Who left the trash bins here?!" they heard Charlie yelp as he fell to the ground outside. Fleur opened the door and they saw him get up and walk in, glaring at Fred and George. "Next time move them out of the way, why don't you?"

"Oh Charlie!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, ignoring her son's obviously irritated disposition as she hugged him as well.

Surprised at first, Charlie eventually hugged her back and told them all he was sorry for being away for so long. When all apologies were made, Fred looked around.

"Where's Ron?" he asked quietly.

Mrs. Weasley released a small hurt noise before she returned to her potatoes. The three turned to Bill and their father, worry written all over their faces.

"Is he okay?" Charlie demanded. "Did something happen-"

"No!" Bill snapped quickly, not wanting to start a panic. "He's fine... well… he's not hurt if that's what you mean… he's not really doing well otherwise…"

"Is he still upstairs?"

Mr. Weasley nodded slowly.

"You can go up and see him," he offered.

All three men exchanged hesitant glances before Bill took charge and grabbed both Fred and George by the back of the necks and forced them towards the stairs, giving Charlie a very pointed look to follow along.

It was a painfully long walk up the short flight of stairs and when they reached the door, the three brothers again hesitated; unsure of what to say to the brother they had left behind. Bill noticed this and sighed.

"Just say you're sorry," he whispered before opening the door and motioning for them to follow him inside.

They were shocked at how dark it was in the room, but Bill ignored this as he announced himself.

"Ron, it's me, Bill," he called out into the dark.

There was no response.

"Why's it so dark?" Fred and George asked together before yelping when something shattered.

Obviously, Ron had not expected who he had heard. Bill instantly lit his wand and moved over to the bed where a blind Ron was clutching the remnants of a cup in his hand. Shards of glass were cutting into his flesh, but he did not seem to be worried about that. He was listening intently to who else was with Bill.

Bill grabbed Ron's hands and forced him to release the cup before he pointed his wand at the bleeding hands and murmured a healing charm. Ron's hands instantly healed, but the scars and blood remained so Bill had to wipe it away before looking up into Ron's pained face.

"You okay?"

No reply.

"He's still not talking?" Charlie asked.

Bill shook his head.

"No… he's not…"

Fred and George peered over their older brothers' shoulders at Ron's bandaged face. The way Ron was curled up on his bed, his deathly pale features and the twig like appearance of his arms and neck reminded them of why they had stayed away.

This wasn't Ron.

This person wasn't even a ghost of Ron.

Ron had long since left the world and what had been left was nothing but a dried up corpse.

Charlie reached out to place a hand on Ron's shoulder, but he quickly drew away, shrinking into the corner of the bed like a frightened child. Charlie sighed and sat down on the bed carefully.

"Damn it Ron… what happened to you?" he muttered.

How had things become so bad?

"Why won't you talk?" George asked.

"I can think of a few reasons," Bill responded bitterly, causing his other brothers to flinch.

"He's never going to be the same, is he?" Fred asked sadly.

"Harry's dead, his eyes are gone and Hermione's been absent for the better half of the past two months… of course he's never going to be the same," Charlie growled hostilely.

Fred and George took a step back but did not say anything else. Bill could feel the tension mounting within the small dark room and knew it would be best if they left before Ron's anxiety level rose any further.

He was about to suggest going when Ron tensed up, his head turning to the door. The four also turned in time to see the door open and someone shocking appear in front of them.

"Hermione."

Ron's whole body gave a huge spasm at the name before he fell into a rigid position, though it was obvious that he was once again listening intently to his surroundings.

Hermione did not notice the attention given to her by the older brothers. Her eyes fell on Ron and stayed on him, filling with tears quickly at the sight of him.

"Oh my God," she gasped sorrowfully. "Ron…"

Bill exchanged looks with Charlie and together they dragged Fred and George quickly out of the room, knowing that this was possibly their only chance to bring Ron back… or at least some of him back…

Hermione walked slowly over to Ron's bed and stared down at him for the longest while, horrified at the scars, bandages and overall death that surrounded him. Everything she remembered from the last time she had seen Ron disintegrated into nothingness as she looked upon the broken and defeated body of the one person she thought could never be brought down.

"Oh God what have I done," she sobbed, clasping a hand to her mouth to stop the scream that threatened to rip through her throat. Tears poured unchecked down her face as her breathing became labored and an unbelievable pain shot through her like lightening. "Oh Ron, what happened?!"

She fell to her knees by his bedside, staring up at him with so much pain in her sobs that Ron cringed.

"I'm so sorry," she cried. "I'm so sorry Ron…"

He never responded to her.

He just lay there, lost in his own dark world.

Hermione did not know how long she sat there on his floor, crying her heart out to him and apologizing repeatedly, but she did know that throughout that entire time, Ron did not move. He just sat on the bed, either ignoring her or listening intently, though if it was the latter, he gave away no indication to having done so.

When she finally got to her feet again, she watched him for a moment before turning and leaving quietly, knowing she would get nothing out of him by staying.

Most of the Weasley family was already sitting at the dinner table, waiting for her. Bill and Fleur, who had gotten into an argument over leaving Hermione up in Ron's room by herself, were missing.

Mrs. Weasley watched Hermione sit down mutely between Luna and Alicia, red eyed and sickly. Bill came in a few seconds later, with Fleur following a short distance behind, both looking thoroughly upset about something. The matriarch exchanged a glance with her husband before they all began to eat quietly, conversing occasionally about the weather or insights about the reconstruction, but never about Ron.

That did not mean that the idea of him was not circulating in their minds. It grew painfully obvious as the night wore on that everyone was thinking about the young man upstairs, submerged in his own fear and pain. They grew quieter and quieter, glancing up at the ceiling as if expecting to see those beautiful blue eyes pop up out of nowhere and welcome them home.

But instead, they drifted off into a tense silence, charged by Hermione's unexplained appearance at the Weasley house and the presence of the Weasley brothers after such a long and tormenting time.

"Molly, the food was wonderful," Mr. Weasley said after twenty minutes of dead silence. Mrs. Weasley jerked out of her revere and tried to smile while motioning to Fleur, who was watching Hermione with an intensity that made a couple of people at the table uncomfortable.

"Thank you, Arthur, but Fleur helped," she responded slowly.

Fleur was less successful at displaying a happy disposition.

"Thank you," she muttered, not tearing her eyes away from Hermione.

Bill glanced between the two before looking over at Fred and George.

"Are Lee and Katie getting married?" he asked.

George glanced over at Alicia briefly before shrugging.

"Katie's still rejecting the idea, but Lee's trying to convince her… so maybe…"

Alicia sighed.

"Maybe," she muttered and suddenly the rest of the family knew the conversation had taken a different turn. George sat up straighter in his seat while Alicia turned away from him, staring down at her glass to avoid his gaze.

"I don't see anything wrong with it," he insisted and Alicia shook her head.

"George, I don't want to do this right now," she whispered. "Let's just get through this dinner."

"But-"

"George, drop it," Alicia snapped angrily before taking a deep breath and standing up. She looked over at Mrs. Weasley and offered a smile. "Excuse me," she whispered as she left the table and went upstairs. There was a momentary silence before they heard a bathroom door slam shut.

Fred glanced over at George, but said nothing while Mrs. Weasley gave her son a disapproving look which the twin completely ignored.

Fleur took that time to focus her attention on another pressing matter.

"Hermione, what are you doing here?" she asked bluntly, causing Neville and Charlie to choke a little on their food.

Hermione, shaken out of her deadened state, bit her lip and sat up straight in her seat.

"What?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Fleur, perhaps you should-"

She shot Bill a withering glare before turning back to Hermione.

"What are you doing here?"

Hermione hesitated before answering.

"I wanted to see Ron," she whispered weakly.

"It's been over two months."

"I know."

"Well?"

Hermione looked like she was going to break out into tears again and Mrs. Weasley wanted to intercede on the girl's behalf, but her husband shook his head while watching the tense exchange.

It was obvious that Fleur had a problem with Hermione's sudden arrival, but it was not for the reason they thought it was.

Fleur was upset because Hermione was down at the table, instead of upstairs with Ron.

"Fleur, I don't know what to say," Hermione stuttered. "I never-"

"You could bring Ron something to eat," Fleur snapped, pointing to the abundance of food on the table. "In case you didn't notice, he needs it."

If it was possible, Hermione paled, but before she could move Alicia's scream stopped everything.

"RON!"

* * *

Hermione found herself sitting in an uncomfortable chair beside Ron's bed at St. Mungos a few hours later. A nurse was close by, marking down certain things on her chart while Hermione just stared at Ron's prone form numbly, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

The Healer had called it an accident, but the Weasleys knew better than that.

Ron's intentions against himself had been made very clear and now he was back in the hospital, with more bandages around his mutilated eye sockets.

"He'll get better, dear."

Hermione looked away from Ron to see the nurse watching her carefully.

"I'm sorry?"

The nurse offered a comforting smile and motioned towards Ron.

"He'll get better," she repeated soothingly. "I'm sure of it."

Hermione tried to smile, but failed miserably and resorted to nodding and shrugging pathetically as she returned to staring at Ron.

"I suppose…"

The nurse noted the lack of emotion in Hermione's voice and frowned, but decided against saying anything. She finished up her work and left the young woman to her pained silence.

Hermione stared at Ron for the longest while before she reached out and took his hand, shivering a little at how cold he was.

"Please don't give up, Ron," she whispered. "You're too stubborn to give up…"

Tears once again began to stream down her face as reality finally decided to erupt from her lips.

"Ron, please don't do this to me," she cried. "I can't do this without you… with Harry gone and Ginny's missing and… I failed…" Here she pressed her lips to his cold hand and clutched it tightly to her as she cried harder. "I failed you… I failed Harry… I failed Ginny… I failed everyone I know… and now Harry's dead and you're… you're in so much pain and in the dark and I can't help you… I can't pull you out and I am _so_ sorry, Ron! I've made a real mess out of everything and I… I feel so _empty_… please don't leave me… I can't do this anymore… I can't hold on to hope… Neville… he's so… he's _so_ optimistic and Luna… they're trying… they're trying so hard," she cried. "I've tried and failed… I left you and I…" Hermione stood up, reached out and touched Ron's face, wanting so desperately to see those entrancing ice blue eyes again. She wanted to hear him laugh and see him give her that smile he saved only for her. "Ron… I… I am _so_ sorry… We all thought Harry would make it… but… now… I'm so sorry…"

"Hermione?"

Hermione tore her eyes away from Ron to see her mother standing at the door, worry all over her face. The young woman let out a painful sob before rushing over to her mother and pulling her into a much needed and distressed embrace.

"Mum, I'm sorry for everything," she cried. "I can't do this anymore!"

Mrs. Granger held her daughter tightly and smoothed out Hermione's hair as tears flowed from her own eyes.

"Shhh," she murmured. "It's okay… It'll be okay…"

Hermione shook her head.

"No it won't mum," she sobbed. "It's never going to be okay…"

The best course of action for Mrs. Granger to take was to comfort her daughter, but before she was able to do that, something caught her eye and she stopped herself.

"Hermione, look," she whispered. "He's waking up."

Ron was moving now and small gasps were escaping his lips as he slowly came into consciousness. Hermione immediately went to his side and sat back down in her chair, watching him intently as he woke up. Mrs. Granger left to go get a Healer.

Because of his blindness, Hermione was unable to tell if he was awake and it took her a moment to realize that he was. By that time, Ron was already aware of the fact that he was not alone in whatever room he was in.

She hesitated for a minute, before she reached out and took his hand.

"Ron, it's me, Hermione," she whispered.

For a moment it seemed as if he were going to talk, but he then pulled his hand away and turned his head away from her. Tears instantly filled Hermione's eyes, but she tried to keep it together for both their sakes. She couldn't break down yet.

"Ron, what's happened to you?" she asked.

Still no response.

Hermione sighed and looked down at her hands.

"I'm sorry, Ron," she whispered. "I-"

Before she could get another word in, the door opened and his healer entered with his parents.

"He's awake?" the Healer asked quickly, moving over to Ron's bedside. Hermione nodded silently and watched as the Healer hastily removed Ron's bandages from his face, revealing inflamed skin with deep scars and sealed flesh.

"Oh Ron," Mrs. Weasley gasped, resting a hand on his arm as she watched the Healer work. "Why did you do this?"

The Healer glanced over at the parents.

"Has he talked at all?" he asked carefully.

Mr. Weasley shook his head.

"Not once… I'm beginning to think he's lost the ability…"

The man shook his head.

"I highly doubt that," he replied. "Post-traumatic stress can express itself in several different ways. Some people turn to extremely destructive behavior to cope with such a devastating event while others, like Ron, remove themselves completely from the situation and stop caring about life… Sometimes their way of coping is to not speak at all."

"Is he better?" Mr. Weasley asked.

The Healer hesitated, unsure of how to answer.

"I think by now, it's up to Ron if he wants to get better," he responded slowly.

Hermione reached out and took his hand again, squeezing it tightly.

"Please get better," she whispered. "Please…"

**A/N: HOORAY! Hermione's come to her senses! And now Ron's lost his mind… well… that's progress for you. :-)**

**mgmve2008:** Not to worry! As long as you reviewed, it's okay with me! Nine years is a long time, but mind you, she won't be _looking_ pregnant until the ninth year. Glad you enjoyed it. Hope you liked this one as well, though it was a bit more depressing.

**nextbestthing:** I'm glad it makes sense to you! No, I'm not going to make the story that long. That would just be redundant. As for Harry, we'll address more about the baby later. Don't worry about that.

**Jenny:** Just because Ginny's pregnant for nine years doesn't mean nothing can "go on". I'm glad you liked the island thing. It was either an island or in the mountains and since we've already been there, I decided to take a detour to the Caribbean.

**Blue Leah:** Yeah, cows blood… but at least it's not human. :-) Well, if you are _so_ good at predicting, could you predict this?

**MaeSilverpaws1:** No, she doesn't have to be apart from her family. She's just going to be pregnant for that long.

**OzDust:** I hope you do well on the test! And of course, since I love them so much, we had to go right back to them.

**ronandmion4ever:** Oh, I know what you mean about load. As for the secrecy thing, it does give him a better chance to survive if he's not constantly hammered by the press and public and Mrs. Weasley. :-) Do you know which one is being a bugger now? Ron's trying to off himself while Hermione's struggling to make things right. It's a lose-lose situation at the moment. Believe me, there will be more baby info. But it's not as if Ginny's actually going to be _looking_ pregnant for those nine years. She's going to look absolutely normal until the ninth year where it's going to look like any typical pregnancy. Besides, she's going to be immortal for those nine years so that can't be too bad. I don't know… I actually want children, but I guess that's where we differ, but like I said, vampire pregnancies are different, as you will find out a lot more later. As for Sirius, I'm not sure I could pull something like that off. It'd be very strange indeed, but maybe I could, though I think that this one and Life After Death will be my last two stories for a while. The joke wasn't that funny, but I think she was a bit derived from human contact that she was trying anything to get some emotion out of him. I mean, you read how he looked. Plus, Ginny's outfit did help her out a little with Harry's rage reaction.

**sballLuvr5:** Nine years is a long time. We'll find out more about her pregnancy a little later.

**jonty2:** I'm glad you liked it. I will definitely finish it as soon as possible.

**Sorry, guys. I don't have a Chapter Tease. **


	44. The One Thing I Have Left

_I can't help but fear I've done this wrong  
Cause seldom second chances come along  
If time can break us, will it make us strong  
Cause seldom second chances come along_

**Second Chances by Needtobreathe**

* * *

"You can't be serious! He's still _alive_!"

The voice… it was irate… fearful… beautiful…

Yet, for some reason, he could not get to it… a haze prevented him from reaching consciousness.

"I am relaying the information Dumbledore has given me. He was not one that was killed during the fight…"

Another voice… light… angelic… evil…

"But how! He… he can't be…"

There was a momentary pause before Ginny spoke again.

"We need to wake him up…"

"Ginny," he muttered.

"Harry! Harry are yo-" There was a crash and then a yelp. "Hey! Let me go! He's awake!"

"No, he's not and if you attempt to wake him up you could put him in a coma, so leave him alone, Ginerva."

"But-"

"No. Under the orders of Earnest Shankton, he is not to be woken up."

"But-"

"Ginerva, while you may be caring my child and are currently immortal, I will not hesitate to _dismember_ you if you continue to counter me on the matter. Harry Potter will not be woken up and you will have to wait until he does it himself."

Harry waited for a reply. It came in the response of an extremely rude and very offensive comment. A deep hiss erupted from the depths of whatever evil was in the room followed by a primal snarl. An exchange of this matter went on in this manner for a few seconds before both stopped.

There was a moment's pause and then Harry became very aware of the fact that the wicked presence was out of the room. Someone started pacing the room manically before she sat down heavily on the bed.

"Bloody hell, Harry, wake up soon," she growled, her fingers digging deeply into the bedside as she tried to calm herself. "I can't _stand_ it anymore…"

* * *

It was two days before Harry woke up again. The dreams Ginny gave him and the potions Ernest prescribed, along with the mental exhaustion of realizing what had happened in his absence had kept him in his stupor.

And while he had enjoyed the dreams and the rest, when he woke up he was made very aware of the fact that Ginny Weasley was not in the least bit excited about his long sleep. The moment he was aware he could hear intense arguing coming from downstairs, but it was short lived.

Ginny must have sensed his awakening because a second after he opened his eyes, she was right beside him, watching him eagerly.

"Are you okay?" she asked quickly as he tried to sit up. Ignoring his protests, she helped him up against the backboard before she sat down on the bed lightly.

Harry was about to ask what the arguing was all about when someone else apparated into the room. Someone he had not expected.

Roxanne Profis.

The beautiful woman barely laid her eyes on Harry as she approached Ginny and leaned into her ear. Roxanne whispered something briefly before she surrounded herself in black mist and disappeared.

"Roxanne was here?" Harry muttered, his mind a bit cloudy at seeing the vampire disapparte.

Ginny rolled her eyes impatiently.

"Never mind her, are you okay?" she asked quickly.

Harry eyed her hesitantly before he frowned.

"What's wrong, Gin?" he asked.

Instead of answering, she turned to look at the door and a couple seconds later Ernest Shankton came walking in, looking a bit upset and pale. Ginny's eyes narrowed slightly but she said nothing as he moved to the other side of the bed to examine Harry.

"How are you feeling, Harry?" he asked.

Harry never took his eyes off of Ginny, who still seemed anxious about something and Ernest's appearance only seemed to make it worse.

"What's going on? Did I do something while I was sleeping?" he asked urgently, causing Ginny's eyes to widen. She reached out and touched his face, shaking her head quickly.

"No, Harry, it has nothing to do with you," she whispered. "You slept fine… just a little _long_…"

Harry frowned.

"Long? Ginny, I don't understand-"

"Ernest gave you some potions that made you sleep longer than I would have liked," she cut in bitterly, shooting the older man an unwelcoming look.

Ernest ignored it and observed Harry.

"Harry, I need you to answer the question. How are you feeling?" he repeated.

Harry could sense Ginny's irritation and could feel it conveyed through her chilling skin, but decided that the best way to get through this was to answer the man's questions.

"I feel fine. Rested," he added for Ginny's sake. She immediately relaxed and took his hand in hers.

"Are you well enough to go back to England?" she asked.

Harry stiffened.

So _that_ was why she was so upset that he had slept so long.

She wanted to go back…

"Ginerva, I don't think that's such a good idea. It's only been three days. Dumbledore said-"

Ginny's eyes were blazing now.

"Ron's hurting himself because we've stayed away for so long. I will not sit around and let my brother kill himself over something that's not true," she hissed menacingly.

Harry's body literally gave a weird jerk at the mention of Ron before he dragged himself out of bed, eyes wide and filled with fear.

"Ron's hurt? What happened? Is he okay?" he asked, his voice bordering on hysteria. "Ginny!"

She stood up and grabbed his arms, steadying him before he reverted back to his panicked state.

"Harry, you need to calm down or we won't be able to go back," she snapped angrily. When he seemed about to protest, she tightened her grip on his arms painfully until he stopped. "Calm down!"

The power of her voice crashed over him and he sort of slouched over, suddenly too tired to stand. Ginny helped him back to the bed and kneeled down in front of him.

"Dumbledore sent Roxanne here to tell me that Ron…" she trailed off weakly and closed her eyes as if trying to block out the image of whatever had happened. "Um… Ron took a broken piece of glass and… shoved them into his eye sockets…"

"Oh my God," Harry gasped. "Why-"

Ginny's irritation boiled over into full-forced anger and she stood up violently.

"Harry, it doesn't matter _why_ he did it! He just did and we have to go back before he kills himself!" she hissed before rounding on Ernest, who took a step back upon seeing hell in her eyes. "Will you release him or not?"

Ernest looked extremely hesitant. Obviously Harry's condition was not to his liking and he would have suggested that the young man stay longer if it had not been for the death glares he was receiving from said man's intimidating girlfriend.

"Ginerva-"

Ginny rolled her eyes and turned to Harry.

"Oh bloody hell," she growled before reaching out and yanking him out of bed, holding him to her carefully. "Hold on."

A second later, they were both surrounded by a cold darkness and then Harry couldn't remember a thing.

* * *

"Hermione."

The young woman looked up to see Fleur standing at the hospital room door, holding two steaming mugs. Hermione tried to offer a smile, but failed miserably and instead turned back to watching Ron, who was still awake as far as she knew. Fleur walked over and handed Hermione a mug before she sat down next to her, observing the two carefully.

"He still won't talk," Hermione muttered.

Fleur looked down at her tea.

"He will eventually. You can only go so long without talking before you explode," she replied knowingly.

Hermione frowned.

"I don't want him to explode."

Fleur bit her lip and shrugged.

"Just because he explodes, does not necessarily mean he's going to go into a rage," she whispered before taking a sip of her tea.

Hermione glanced over at Fleur before she looked to the window where Darcy was lying, staring out into the London streets below. Her mind began to race with thoughts of how Ron might explode, if he ever did and none of them ended well.

Sighing, Hermione took another sip of her tea before she stood up and moved over to Ron's side, taking his hand in hers.

"Ron," she whispered. "Please…"

There was a knock on the door, causing the two to look over in time to see Bill pop his head in. He looked over at Ron for a moment before motioning for Fleur to come.

"I need to talk to you," he whispered.

Fleur glanced over at Hermione before walking over to the door.

"Bill, I should not leave her," she murmured quietly. "They are both in a very fragile state."

Bill hesitated for a moment, looked over his shoulder and then turned back to her, a strange look on his face.

"I _really_ need to talk to you," he said. "It's important."

His wife pursed her lips before following him out the room, leaving Hermione to deal with her mute boyfriend.

Hermione stood by his side for the longest while, trying to think of something poignant to say. She wanted to make him feel better about this. Perhaps she could tell him about her day and how just thinking about him got her through it… or maybe talk about a book she had once read that related to their specific situation…

But that would not do. Talking about all those things would be fine, but maybe she should just stick to basics and reminisce on the good times they had with Harry. Mention the first time they met and-

Sighing, Hermione reached out and pushed a lock of Ron's hair back into place that had been bugging her a little since she had arrived. That's when she noticed a smudge of dirt on the bridge of his nose and without thinking she licked her thumb and began wiping it off irritably.

"You're a mess," she muttered to herself as she fixed his sheets as well.

Hermione literally jumped a foot back in the air before toppling over a chair hard onto the floor, releasing a startled yelp when a boisterous laugh filled the room. The laughter got louder when she hit the ground and didn't stop for a good ten minutes, even after Hermione had managed to untangle her legs from the arms of the chair and get to her feet again.

Ron just kept on laughing at her, even as he struggled to form words.

"Y- yew- yew- _you_… ju- ju- jus… ju- ju- _just_… jus c-c-c-ca… _can_… can-ca-_can't_… can't he-he-he- he-he-hep." He seemed to have trouble getting that word out. "He-hep-hep- _help_… help it… it c-c-_can_ you?" he managed to choke out through the laughter.

For five minutes, all Hermione could do was stare at Ron's blind body as it shook with amusement at her innocent actions.

"Y-y-_you_… y-y-you j-j-_jus_… _just_ h-h-ha… _have_… have t-t-to to… ha-have to f-f-fi… _fix_… to _fix_… e-e-e-ev… ev… ever…"

"Everything," Hermione finished softly, tears rolling down her cheeks as she suddenly gained feeling in her legs and practically flew to Ron's bedside. She grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him deeply. "Oh Ron!"

It seemed as if nothing else existed anymore. The world itself passed away and behold, Ron and Hermione became new again. Ron pulled her close, running his hands through her hair as their lips desperately fought for the right to explore. Sobs escaped Hermione's throat while she clung to him, her mind racing for some sort of logical explanation as to how Ron had suddenly regained his ability to speak.

Moving away from her lips and up to her ear, Ron held her as close as possible.

"I… I… I ne-ne-knew… I _knew_… y-y-you c-c-cou… cou-cou-could-_n't_… n't he-he-hel-help… _help_ it…" he gasped. "Y-you… al-al-_always-_"

Hermione pulled away and kissed him quickly.

"I always have to fix things," she cried, leaving a trail of kisses all over his face. "But I can't fix you, oh Ron!"

Her fingers reached for his bandages and he immediately stopped her, his fists burning her skin as he pulled her hands away from his face. He leaned back in bed, placed a hand over his eyes and took a deep breath before attempting to speak again.

"I… I'm… I-I'm s-s-sor… so-_sorr_… _sorry_," he stammered as she sat down on the side of the bed and watched him tearfully.

"I shouldn't have left you," she replied, running a hand through his hair. "You needed me."

Hermione was about to say something when a thunderous bang outside of the room drew her attention away from her blind boyfriend to the startled screams outside. Biting her lip, she was torn between staying with Ron and going out to investigate. However, when there was another bang, she got off of the bed and leaned down to kiss him swiftly on the mouth.

"I'll be right back," she whispered before leaving quickly. When she got out in the hallway, she looked around and frowned when she saw Bill running down the hall. "What's going on? What happened?"

The look in Bill's eyes was like Christmas.

"HE'S BACK! HARRY'S BACK!" he shouted blissfully as he skidded to a stop in front of her. "HE'S BACK!"

Hermione was going to have a heart attack.

"WHAT?!"

Bill grabbed her, pulled her to him and spun her around while he laughed and cried at the same time.

"HARRY'S ALIVE! HE'S DOWNSTAIRS AND HE'S BLOODY ALIVE!" he screamed.

Hermione began sobbing uncontrollably and clung to Bill, burying her face in his neck as she willed herself not to squeal in girlish delight. She released Ron's brother and went to the door to grab Ron and yank him out of bed.

"What?"

She tried the knob one more time before frowning and pulling out her wand.

"_Alohamora_," she muttered quickly before pulling once again on the knob. She then proceeded to bang on the door. "Ron! Ron, Harry's ALIVE!" she screamed. "Open the door!"

No reply.

Her heart suddenly began to pound against her ribcage as she slammed her fists against the door.

"RON! RON!"

Bill pushed her aside and pointed his wand at the door.

"This will work," he muttered. "_Incindio!" _

The doorknob burst into flames briefly before a perfect rectangular hole was in the door. Bill then pushed the door open and Hermione ran in before stopping and gasping.

"RON!" she screamed, making a start for the bed before Bill grabbed her around the waist and yanked her back out into the hall right when a jet of green shot towards them and shattered the walls around them. They fell to the ground before Bill pulled her against his chest holding on to her desperately. "RON!" she shrieked. "NO!" She struggled against Bill's tight grip, biting and scratching at the man's arms to get back in the room. "HE'S DYING!"

She managed to escape Bill's arms and almost made it inside the room when another flash of green forced Bill to grab her and pull her back again.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT MALFOY?!" Bill bellowed as he continued to hold onto Hermione. "YOU SON OF A BITCH, LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE!"

Draco Malfoy only laughed as he continued to train his wand on Ron's writhing body.

"That's not very nice language, Weasley," he sneered. "Perhaps you should ask nicely."

"GO TO HELL!" Hermione screamed.

"Wrong answer, Mudblood!" Draco yelled. "_AVADA KER-_"

"NO!" Hermione screamed, ripping herself away from Bill and running into the room. "RO-"

She stopped in her tracks and Bill nearly crashed into her, both shocked by what they were seeing.

Ginny was standing over Ron's body with Draco Malfoy in one hand while she had another hand to Ron's forehead. The redhead looked up in surprise and immediately dropped the limp body and bit her lip.

"Draco always did speak too much," she whispered.

Again, all Hermione could do for a couple of seconds was stare before words finally came to her lips.

"Ginny," she gasped. "You're here…"

"She's not the only one."

If Harry had not grabbed Hermione in time, she would have fallen to the ground and knocked herself out. He pulled her up to him and grinned when she looked into his eyes, pure shock on her pale face.

"Oh my God," escaped her lips before she released a high pitched scream and threw herself onto him, knocking him down with the force of her attack. "HARRY!"

In that moment, both of them began talking at the exact same time, consumed by feelings of guilt, joy, love and overall amazement at what was happening. Harry was crying just as much as Hermione was and was holding on to her as tightly as he could, unable to let her go for fear of watching her disappear before his very eyes. They choked through incoherent apologies, history and other things that were incomprehensible. They clung to each other desperately, completely unaware of the growing crowd of people who had heard the commotion.

"Neville always said you were alive, but I never thought!" Hermione sobbed as she finally pulled away from him to look at him. She ran her hands over his face before she let out another sob and hugged him again. "You're alive!"

"Ron," Harry gasped out, holding her close as he struggled to get to his feet.

Hermione released some sort of wounded animal noise before she broke away and ran over to Ron's bedside. Harry scrambled after her to where Ginny was standing.

"Is he okay?" Harry demanded immediately.

Ginny nodded quickly, running a hand over Ron's eyes with tears in her own.

"Oh Ron," she cried. "What happened to you?"

"I-I-if if o-o-_one_ m-m-m- one mo-mo-_more_… _more_ pe-pe-pe-per… per… more person… a-a-a-as… _asks_… asks a-ab-abo… a-about me… me a-aga-ag-agai…_again_," Ron managed to growl before his chest sunk and he was unable to finish his sentence. Hermione reached out and took his hand, a watery smile on her face.

"Ron's fine," she whispered, looking up at Harry. "We're both fine now…"

Harry still looked completely guilty about everything and took both Ron and Hermione's hands.

"I'm so sorry. I should have-"

Hermione slapped him across the face so hard he stumbled back into the wall while Ron, though still in a considerable amount of pain, started laughing when he heard the action.

"Harry James Potter, if you _ever_ say those _infernal_ words again, _I_ will kill you myself," Hermione hissed. "I don't _care_ why you were gone for three months! I don't care! You're _alive!_"

Tears rolled freely down Ginny's eyes as she watched Harry clench his face in surprise.

"Now I remember why I wanted to come back so badly," the redhead said before releasing a sob and pulling Hermione into a hug. "We missed you so much!"

"GINNY!"

They turned to see Mrs. Weasley shoving her way through the crowd of people, two Healers hurrying after her. The matriarch squealed upon seeing her daughter and before anyone could stop her, gathered Ginny up into a tremendous hug, causing the girl to cry harder.

"Oh my sweet Ginny," Mrs. Weasley cried. "You've come back to me!"

"I missed you so much mum! I wanted to come back so badly!" Ginny sobbed into her mother's shoulder.

Molly began to rock her daughter back and forth, smoothing out her ginger hair calmly as she shushed her soothingly.

"Shhh, it's okay," she whispered before catching sight of Harry. Molly motioned the boy to come to her and pulled him into a loving embrace as well. "Both my children have come back to me. We're a family again."

**A/N: I'm sorry that it took so long to update! Hopefully you all liked it! **

**ronandmion4ever: **I think they both had to get over themselves. It only takes a bit of nostalgia to get someone back into the mix. As for Fleur, she was usually seen as sort of a bad egg (Fourth year: Hermione/Ron/Fleur thing, Sixth and Seventh year: Ginny vs. Pflem) She wasn't really given a good rap, even though Mrs. Weasley sort of accepted her at the end of the Sixth book. I decided to try to redeem her in this one. I'm glad you like the stories so much to give such a long review. So far, I'm not really all that sure if it will be my last, or just my last for a long time. I've sort of hit a wall, especially since this story was _soooo_ long and then Life After Death is sort of a continuation in which I've already basically written the ending (trust me you'll like it!), I'm not sure where to go after this. I know I don't want to make another D/G fic, but I'm not sure if I want to make another R/Hr fic either. I don't know. It's all very confusing. As for Fred and George, I realized that I hadn't put too much of their banter in the beginning of the story, so I figured it was a good idea to stick it in now, with all of the weighty Hr/R stuff. Glad you liked it and can't wait to hear from you again!

**Nextbestthing: **Thanks for the beta! And thanks for telling me about the line thing. Can't wait to hear what you have to say about the next chapter! Again, sorry about what's happened and I hope everything else is okay. Please, don't worry about the whole beta thing! I've yet to write anything for the next chapter, so I should really beat myself up a bit. Exams just ended and I'm still being bombarded with stuff to do! It's not as bad as what you're probably dealing with, so don't worry about it. I'm also going through a sort of brain fart in which every time I attempt to write something down, it sort of pushes something horrible out and then I have to leave. (_Soo_ not what you want to hear right now and I doubt you even care.) I'm sort of just rambling. Again, thanks for everything and I hope you're alright! Take care!

**mgmve2008: **I think the only thing Hermione and Ron really needed was some normalcy. Something to bring them out of whatever rut they were in. A bit of comic relief was very overdue, so I'm glad you liked the Fred and George bit. Ron definitely does _not_ pull away in this chapter.

**Katia0203: **That's a really good idea! To be quite honest, I'm not too sure about what I'm going to do with Ron's eyes. I mean, he'll always be blind, so it's just a matter how we help him through that which is the real problem. I think Hermione's little actions and Harry coming back will help a lot in that.

**Jenny:** He did try to kill himself, but I don't think that's going to happen again. They've all come to their senses.

**rhr4eva:** Oh I think this was a very big miracle, so I hope you liked it! Do you love me again?

**sballLuvr5:** I'm glad they all snapped out of it. Ron is stubborn, but with the right type of encouragement and some first year flash backs, he got right back on board.

**ObsessedRHShipper:** It didn't take that much trying. I think the best medicine is just feeling like you're home again.

**OzDust:** Yeah, Ron hurting himself wasn't too fun, but him getting his voice back was sort of funny. I'm glad you liked the quote.

**wow60:** I'm sorry about the lack of a chapter tease! I'm just having trouble thinking right now, so the fact that I was even able to come up with this chapter is amazing. :-) Well, he didn't get his eyesight back, but he did try to talk. That was kind of weird to write, but hopefully it was easy to understand.

**BTW, Check out my homepage if you want to see the banners for some of my stories. I'll have a banner up for this story pretty soon, hopefully.**


	45. We'll See Each Other Soon

**A/N: I decided to put the reviews in the beginning of the chapter so as not to interrupt the ending of the story. Yes, this is the ending. I hope you enjoyed the story and please review! I might be writing another story, but that all depends on how ****Life After Death**** is doing. I'll try to keep you updated. I hope you all enjoyed the story!**

**Ronandmion4ever:** How did all of that work out? School and finals and stuff? Did you do well? As for Ron, I was debating on whether or not to let him speak normally, then I thought, "He's been silent for three months! He's not going to speak perfectly. Especially after everything that happened to him. I wouldn't. I'm glad you liked the story! I loved your reviews and perhaps I will continue… who knows? As for writing for a different pairing, I don't know yet. I'm already writing for D/G, though Life After Death will be the last of that paring I do. Another friend of mine here at FanFiction is doing an odd couple. Percy/Pansy. It's a good story though. (Coconut Girl in case you were wondering). Of course, I wouldn't do something as odd as that, but perhaps if I'm motivated enough I'll do something like… well, I don't know yet, but I have to be motivated. Anything other than R/Hr, H/G takes a lot of energy to make it believable (and interesting). Of course, amnesia is always a good excuse to get a lot of people together, but you have to play it well so that it's not cliché. I don't know yet. The review wasn't bad! It was good. Thanks for everything! I hope to hear from you again soon!

**SballLuvr5:** Draco is dead. I'm glad you liked it though. It was a hard chapter to write, so I'm really happy you enjoyed it. Thanks for everything! Hopefully, I'll hear from you in another story!

**Mgmve2008:** I'm glad they're home as well. I'm sorry I didn't put in that part with Ginny and her mum, but I decided to end it a bit differently. I hope you liked it anyway!

**Nextbestthing:** This one was free of action for once. I hope you liked it. Thanks for betaing for it! I enjoyed your input and I think the story was better since I had someone making corrections for me. Thank you so much!

**MaeSilverpaws1:** Hopefully some of the dialogue in this chapter answered how Molly responded to Ginny's pregnancy.

**Blue Leah: **Very exciting chapter! I loved the whole thing with Ron and Hermione. Thanks so much for your reviews!

**Jenny:** Hermione was very mature, wasn't she? Thank you for reading the story and I enjoyed your reviews a lot!

**OzDust:** I think that last chapter was my favorite. I think having Harry around did help Ron a lot.

**wow60: **A lot of stuff happened in the last chapter. I'm glad you liked it so much! Thanks for reading and reviewing!

**rhr4eva:** This review was so interesting to receive because it was all in CAPS. Harry and Hermione are very cute friends. They work so well together! I think Neville and Luna do get together, but you'll have to read this chapter to get the answers to all of those questions. Hopefully I answer them! Thanks so much!

**Yes, this is the end. I didn't put '**_**The End**_**' at the end, but it is the last chapter.**

**Thank you for everything!**

* * *

_I promised you the world again…  
Everything within my hands.  
All the riches one could dream,  
They will come from me…_

I hoped that you could understand…  
That this is not what I had planned…  
Please don't worry now,  
It will turn around…

_Cause I need more time…  
Just a few more months and we'll be fine…_

**More Time by Needtobreathe**

* * *

The halls were quiet, disturbed only by the happenings of an occasional mouse or Mrs. Norris, who prowled freely while her master sulked around corners, wishing for the summer days to come to an end. There was no one to scold during this time. No detention to supervise or disaster to be called for.

These were long days…

Most of the rooms at Hogwarts sat sedentary, lacking in nervous first years and rambunctious seventh years, eager for class to end so they could fill the halls where the only occupants to be seen presently were a couple of old wizards playing chess in the portraits that were still on the walls. Even the ghosts remained unseen, deprived from lively conversation and unmotivated to wander beyond the confines of the castle.

The days were long indeed…

The sun basked the open hills leading away from the school and allowed the blue sky and lonely clouds a chance to observe a lone giant, wandering the landscape to take care of various creatures and plants while smoking a pipe and hollering to a large beast relieving itself in Professor Sprout's flowers. In the sparkling lake nearby, the giant squid glided silently across the rippling surface, aware of mermaids playing beneath it.

Oddly, on this warm day in August, there was a small group heading down to Hogsmeade. So as not to disrupt the serenity of the environment, they remained silent. A quiet procession down to the town, but somehow, there was an air of happiness that radiated from the group. Contentment.

Hogsmeade, generally crowded during the summer, was relatively empty, giving the group opportunity to speak more openly with each other once they reached the station.

"The vampires are going to take Ron and I to the Asylum," Hermione explained as she looked around the platform. There were only five other people waiting for the train. "They're going to try to help him."

"Well, I think that's wonderful," Stephanie Warner replied with a smile. "It'll give him a chance to see again."

Hermione nodded.

"I hope so," she whispered. "It's been really hard for him."

"Harry coming back definitely helped," Remus commented, looking over in the young man's direction.

Harry met Hermione's eyes briefly before he shrugged.

"I don't want to say that I was the reason," he muttered, his cheeks reddening slightly.

"But you were," Hermione said, linking her arm to his and kissing his cheek. She looked down the track and smiled as a pillar of smoke appeared in the distance. "They're almost here." She felt Harry stiffen at the statement, but chose not to say anything, knowing this was hard enough for him without bringing it up.

Severus Snape and Dumbledore came up onto the platform a few seconds later and walked over to where the group was standing.

"Arthur just sent word that they would be here in five minutes," Dumbledore told them, coming to stand between Harry and Tonks, whose hair was a bright shade of pink that day. Mr. and Mrs. Granger turned to Hermione with worry on their faces.

"Are you okay?" Hermione's mother asked carefully, producing a smile from her daughter.

"I'm fine, Mum. I really want to do this," was Hermione's confident response. "I'm _ready_ to do this."

Mr. Granger grinned and pulled her into a tight loving hug.

"Of course you are," he muttered. "You're always ready."

A horn blared and they all turned to see the Hogwarts Express slowly pulling into the station, clouds of smoke rising above it and briefly blotting out the sun. Severus exchanged looks with Stephanie, who nodded quickly and turned to Hermione.

"We have to go now, Hermione," she whispered, hugging the girl quickly. "I hope everything works out for the best."

"Thank you, Stephanie. For everything. You too, Professor Snape," Hermione added quickly.

The Potions Master nodded curtly and gently led Stephanie off the platform and back into town. Just as they left, the doors from the train cars began to open and a couple of people got off and disappeared quickly into the station building. After another moment, several redheads started getting off the train and walked over to the small group waiting for them.

"There you are!" Mrs. Weasley greeted happily, helping Ron off the train before they walked over. Ron's brothers and sister followed close behind, crowding the station quickly and causing the other people on the platform to frown and quickly board. "How are you all?"

"Wonderful now," Hermione responded, kissing Ron quickly. "How are you?"

Snorting, the redhead pointed in the general direction of his family.

"Bunch of gits, the lot of them," he muttered.

Harry frowned.

"Who, your brothers?" he asked.

Ron nodded.

"I'm going to be gone for a few months and all they can think about is why I get to go to Transylvania and they don't," he told his friend with a smirk on his face. Ginny walked up behind Harry and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Oh, don't listen to him," she said. "He enjoyed the whole ride. Got all the attention."

"Not all of it," Ron muttered. "Mum couldn't stop harping on Ginny being pregnant. Kept bringing it up. You know she's buying baby clothes now."

"Really?" Harry asked, turning to look at his girlfriend, who rolled her eyes at the comment.

"It's going to be nine years and all she can think about is what sort of bib to get," she told them with a smile. "It was okay for a while until Mum suggested we get Roxy to give up the baby."

Hermione frowned.

"Are you going to be willing to give up the baby?"

Ginny smiled.

"I get to keep the child for seventeen years before Roxanne has a say in anything. Of course, that doesn't mean she's not going to be a major part of the baby's life. It just means that vampire talk is going to be the last thing on our minds."

Harry made a face.

"Can we talk about something else?" he asked.

Knowing this was a very hard subject for Harry, they all decided to drop it and turned to the others.

"I thought the train ride was enjoyable," Mr. Weasley was saying. "It's been years since I've been on the Express. Much better than apparating."

"Yeah, but apparating is quicker," Fred and George said at the same time.

As if to prove their points, two cracks sounded and then Neville and Luna popped in out of no where, smiling broadly.

"Did we miss anything?" Luna asked.

Fred turned to his father.

"Told you."

Hermione smiled at the two.

"You're just in time. It's almost time for us to leave," she told them.

On time as usual, Roxanne and Viorel materialized out of thin air right beside Ginny, umbrellas in their hands to abstain from frightening anyone with their true forms.

"It is time to go," Viorel whispered.

"I guess it's time to say goodbye," Tonks voiced before turning to Hermione and Ron. "I truly hope things go well."

Remus nodded.

"It's a rare opportunity. I'm sure Ron will be seeing in a few months time," he whispered.

Ron offered a smile.

"I hope so."

They hugged and then Tonks disapparated with Remus. Hermione and Ron's parents then took the time to say goodbye to the two before Ron's brothers took the opportunity to make a few unnecessary comments about Ron and Hermione's relationship before Mrs. Weasley chased them off into Hogsmeade, leaving the couple with Harry, Ginny, Luna, Neville and Dumbledore, who was smiling broadly at them. The vampires stood off the side to give them time to say goodbye.

"You two have always been very strong," the man said. "You've proven that time and time again throughout your years here at Hogwarts and during the War. I know you will be able to make it through this next step in your lives."

Hermione glanced up at Ron's blind face before her eyes filled with tears and she hugged Dumbledore tightly.

"Thank you, sir," she whispered. "Thank you for everything."

Ron shook Dumbledore's hand.

"Thank you."

Dumbledore smiled as he gently pried Hermione away.

"I hope to have you over for dinner some day," he said.

"Definitely," Hermione replied quickly.

Nodding, Dumbledore waved goodbye to the others before he left the platform as well.

Hermione then turned to Neville and Luna.

"Thanks… for helping us," she whispered. "Without you two, we would have never been able to do this."

Neville blushed and hugged Hermione quickly.

"Then you better not waste it," he whispered before shaking Ron's hand. "Good luck."

Luna hugged each of them in turn before handing them a turnip.

"For good luck," she explained, causing Hermione to cry even more.

"Oh come here," the young woman cried, pulling Luna into another hug. "I'm going to miss you so much!"

Luna nodded.

"I'll miss you too, Hermione," she whispered.

Biting her lip, Hermione pulled away and wiped her eyes and turned to Ginny, who held up her hands to stop Hermione and smiled.

"I'll be visiting often," she said. "Don't worry about saying goodbye right now."

Hermione and Ron then turned to Harry, who looked a bit upset about the whole thing. There was something bittersweet about this departure.

Several weeks had passed since Harry and Ginny had returned to England, but it seemed like only a few seconds since he had arrived at St. Mungos and been slapped by Hermione.

Yet, he would give anything to have that happen again.

"Do you have to leave now? I just got back," he muttered.

Hermione smiled lovingly.

"Oh Harry, we'll be back before you know it," she whispered.

Harry shifted uncomfortably.

"I know… it's just… you guys have always been there for me… and now you're leaving…"

Ron snorted.

"You're not going to get mushy on us are you?" he asked jokingly and Hermione hit him in the arm.

"Ron," she scolded. "Harry's hurting."

Blushing violently, Harry straightened up and shook his head quickly.

"I'm not _hurting_, Hermione. I'm just…"

"Upset?" Ron offered with a smirk on his face.

"Worried," Harry snapped. "I'm worried."

Hermione smiled and hugged him tightly.

"We'll be okay, Harry," she whispered. "They'll take care of us."

Harry pulled away.

"I know… I just wish things could be different," he replied. "That's all."

"Things will be different when they come back," Ginny whispered.

Harry nodded and after shaking Ron's hand, stepped back for Viorel and Roxanne. Roxanne handed Hermione a small doll and whispered something quickly in her ear before stepping back beside her partner. The two vampires then came forward and gave Ginny a soft kiss on the temple.

"Come quickly, love," Viorel whispered soothingly before stepping back and disappearing. Roxanne murmured something into Ginny's ear about the baby before she turned to Hermione and Ron.

"Do not dawdle," she told them while the familiar black mist surrounded her and took her away.

Taking Ron's hand, Hermione turned to look at the others on the platform.

"We'll see each other soon," she whispered.

"Don't get into too much trouble while we're gone," Ron added before turning to face Hermione. "Ready to go?"

She reached up and touched the scarred skin where his beautiful blue eyes should have been. For months she had dreamed about those eyes… she longed to see them again…

"Are you?" she asked.

He smiled and leaned in to kiss her gently.

"I'm ready to see you again," he whispered.

Hermione's chest clenched tightly and the quickly clutched the doll tightly.

"One… two… three," she whispered. There was a quick tug at their bellybutton and soon they were gone.

For a few seconds, the four just stood there, staring at the spot where their best friends had stood.

Seven months… that was the estimated time they would be gone…

Hopefully it would not be too long…

The long blast of the Express horn brought them all back into reality as the train prepared to leave. Ginny quickly turned to the others.

"How about we go back on the train?" she suggested.

Neville and Harry eyed the train quickly before nodding.

"Sure why not," Neville answered.

Ginny grinned and took Harry's arm in hers, pulling him towards the train.

"You should have heard Mum," she whispered. "Despite her initial reaction to the whole pregnancy thing, she's really excited."

Harry shrugged.

"She's got nine more years before she actually has a grandchild," he replied.

Ginny got up on the first steps before she turned to look at him, a look of embarrassment on her face.

"Well, actually, she was more excited about what this would mean for… _us_, rather than me actually _having_ a baby," she told him.

Harry frowned.

"What do you mean?"

Taking a quick look over at Neville and Luna, Ginny patted her stomach lightly and then tapped her left ring finger.

"Mum doesn't believe that a baby should be born without two married parents," she told him before turning and getting on the train.

Harry stood there for a moment, staring at the spot she occupied before he blinked and moved after her.

"Wait, what two married parents?" he asked quickly, causing her to laugh as they disappeared down the small corridor to the compartments.

Neville was about to follow the couple, but he noticed someone wasn't following and turned to Luna, who was staring up at the sky.

"Coming Luna?" When she didn't respond, he walked over to her. "What's wrong?"

"The clouds."

"What about them?"

She pointed to a couple of them.

"They look like hippogriffs," she whispered.

He looked up and frowned, not seeing what she was obviously seeing.

"What does that mean?" Neville asked curiously.

Luna turned and looked at him with a smile on her face.

"I don't know," she whispered as she kissed Neville quickly on the lips, took his hand in hers and began to board the train. "But I'm sure it's a good thing."


End file.
